Natsu X Lucy Reimagined
by hannaverian
Summary: Fairy Tale magic reimagined in real life. Lucy is home for the summer working as a sleezy waitress, a monster attacks her, Natsu who is just walking by offers aid.
1. Chapter 1

**This story is a return to writing after many years hiatus.**

 **A few of you may have noticed that I have updated this story, the general story is still the same. I have basically gone through the entire thing to clean it up a bit, parts that where confusing or awkward before are fixed. Also I am not a great editor, although I have done my best I can't promise that I haven't missed a mistake here and there. Hopefully however it is enough that for those of you that let grammar grind your gears, this story is more tolerable for you now. I have also rearranged some chapter around to make them longer. If you are looking to skip straight ahead to the knew content you should be good to start with Chapter 12. Thank you all for reading and I hope you enjoy! :)**

Chapter 1

The Stranger

There was always this light at the edge of the cul-de-sac, that inexplicably I have been leery of ever since I was a kid. My dad and I live in an older part of town where the branches of knotted oak trees curled over streets, and the forest seemed to run right up to the houses. On some of the older houses vines have started to creep, disrupting brick and siding in their wake. A few of the houses in the neighborhood look as though mother nature swallowed them back up, and are now derelict with branches of baby trees bursting out of the windows, moss invading the concrete. There was never any kind of fairy tale that was classic for these kind of conditions, no rumors of an old witch, there were no Indian burial grounds. The reason these houses where abandon wasn't because of some haunting, or murder. I once asked my dad about why nobody lived in those houses, and he has explained something about the housing market, and the recession. However, the occupied houses in the neighborhood where lovely, in like 50's kind of way, with detailed porches and well-kept lawns. In the summer time kids ride their bikes around and play basketball in driveways like any other upper middle class suburb. The only thing I ever found strangely out of place was this old street lamp at the end of the cul-de-sac that glows a dim orange light, and emanated steady hum. The pole itself was somehow over looked, it's still some kind of rotten wooden from the late 70's or early 80's, while the rest of the lamp posts in the area have been upgraded to metal in the early 2000's. I think my irrational fear began because whenever somebody walks under its beam, the light will flicker. I remember being a kid, maybe 8 or 9, walking back to my house after playing at a neighbors all day and having to walk past this light. I could hear the steady electrical hum from a distance, a hum that never wavered in frequency, a light never flickered, until I walked under it. When I walked under it the hum and the light seemed to go haywire, and as soon as I passed the light's beam it would go back to being steady just as before. Multiple trips to my friend's house later, I often walked home in the winter well after dark, I would purposefully walk on the other side of the street, so that I didn't have to experience the eerie, flickering orange light. I never really told anyone about the light, figuring my dad would just offer some rational explanation that downplayed my fear.

On a night the summer between my junior and senior year of college I came home from my usual summer waitressing job. The street I lived on, Abby Ave, was cluttered with cars, evidently there was some underage party going on and some asshat had decided to park in my driveway. I was having one of those nights, the ones where you can't seem to catch a break. Customers had either been rude, ordered something complicated, or grossly under tipped. Exhausted, I just saw all these cars as the last straw to my already sassy attitude, the only place in the whole street left to park was, you guessed it, at the end of the cul-de-sac.

I was too burnt out to be worry about my old irrational fear of the lamp post anyways. I was pretty much an adult after all and didn't have time anymore for inconsequential child hood fears anymore. So I parked my basic bitch white Nissan Ultima, scooped my belongings into my purse and stepped out of the car. I stared intently at the light, thinking surely, it wouldn't flicker this time. Convinced it had been the imagination of my child self. My sneakers scuffed the loose gravel on the pavement, the only noise except for the loud base coming from a few houses down. Still fumbling with items in my Louis, I looked up to noticed a shadow from beyond the light walking soundlessly towards me. As any moderately attractive girl, alone, in the middle of the night watching a dark figure approach, my heart began to race and I casually put a hand on my whip holster. The figure continued, and like some cheesy movie, I could make out more detail the closer he stepped towards the light. It was a man about 25 or so, with the most peculiar pink hair. It was long and stuck out in odd places, he was wearing strange cloths as well. He was shirtless except for an elegantly embroidered wool vest, his hairless chest and washboard abs would have been a sight for sore eyes under normal circumstances. He wore a black leather belt that looked expensive and black ripped jeans with Nike high top sneakers. Was this a costume party? And if so, what kind of costume was this? Is that a wig? In all my wonderings and awe, trying to make sense of this strange man walking towards me, I forgot all about the light.

I was directly under it now, the flickering going haywire, the electrical noise started to sound like static. Suddenly I felt this shadow above my shoulder.

"Look out! Above you!" The man with pink hair shouted as he started to sprint towards me.

As I turned to look there was an ink black hand, that dripped a metallic black substance that evaporated into a purple gas. The arm was somehow coming from the space between the lightbulb and the pole. The flickering was really going nuts now. I reached for my whip, but before I could do anything, the hand, quick as a flash, grabbed my leather pouch containing my most prized possessions holstered to my belt. As fast as my reflexes would allowed I lashed at it with my whip, it glowed like the aurora borealis in the night, glittering and magnificent, but in my haste I missed. I lashed my whip and the light pole, thinking this was the source of the strange thing that stole my pouch, with the added magical power of the celestial whip I pulled the lamp post to the ground. Nothing happened. The only thing I was rewarded with was the stupid light finally giving up and flickering off for good. Whatever the thing was had retreated back to where ever it had come from, and WITH MY KEYS!

"COME BACK HERE YOU COWARD! I'LL GET YOU FOR TAKING MY KEYS!" I screamed at night sky brandishing my whip.

"Huh, what was that thing anyways?" Said the man with pink hair, who was now standing next to me, a hand casually at his hip.

"How should I know!? How am I ever going to get my keys back?" I snapped at him, flailing my arms about.

"Um, what are you wearing anyways?" Teased the man as he frowned at me, rubbing his right hand on the back of his neck. I did NOT have the patience for this tonight.

"Uh! What!? I should be asking you the same question!? What are you supposed to be? Pink Aladdin? And for your information, this is my uniform! Not that it's any of YOUR business." I retorted smartly. Okay, maybe he did have a point. In this summer I worked at some sleazy sports bar that all the waitresses wore plaid miniskirts and white oxfords that where way too small. But hey, I'm a poor college kid. While you got it, flaunt it am I right?

"Whose 'Aladdin'?" Asked the pink haired man.

"Wait, you don't know who Aladdin is!?" Who was this guy? Evidently someone who grew up under a rock. He looked about my age, a little too old to be going to a high school kid party. At least he wasn't some creepy old man, and he didn't appear to have a weapon on him.

"Nope…. Hey what did that thing take from you anyways."

I blew out a big breath. Why not tell him, they're gone anyways? "My keys! I'm a celestial wizard. I only had two, but still, those guys are important to me." Panic started to rise in my chest again and a lump started in my throat, but I wasn't going to cry, especially not in front of this weird stranger. I would get them back, I was determined of that much but right now I had no lead, no idea where they are or how to even begin to get them back.

"Oh I see…. Well how are you going to get them back, Lucy?"

"…I…I have no idea where to start." I said defeated. "All I know is I have to get them back. Hold on a second! How did you know my name!?" The hair on the back of my neck stood on end as suspicion about this man spiked.

"Your name tag." He pointed lazily at the badge dangling off the side of my right breast.

"Perv!" I said crossing my arms over my chest, which only served to make my cleavage test the integrity of the buttons on my shirt even more, but whatever.

"I know what that thing was." Confessed the strange pink haired man casually. Immediately my sassy attitude melted away, he could stare at my boobs all he wanted if it meant I got my keys back.

"You do!? What was it?"

"…I could tell you. And I could help get them, back but it will cost you."

"Ew! How dare you suggest…."

"No, no, nothing like that. But I am pretty hungry."

I let out a breath. "Oh, yeah I think I can manage that. Come on, my house is just down this way."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Snacks on Snacks on Snacks

I followed Lucy to her house, it was pretty run of the mill for these types of neighborhoods. There where hydrangea bushes out front, a porch with a swing, a spacious two story home with probably a finished basement.

"Do you live here by yourself?" I asked, doubtful that this 20-some-year-old could afford something like this on her own.

"Nah, I live with my dad in the summer time, but he's in Dubai right now for business." She said as she unlocked the door and let it swing in. The hallway was coated with floral wall paper, the floors a polished wood. Lucy kicked off her sneakers and hung up her purse. Awkwardly I pulled off my shoes, having to hop a little, my shoes are more for dynamic movement than convenience. She didn't wait for me, she disappeared somewhere throughout the house, but I followed the short hallway to an unlit living room. I heard an elephant wrestle its way up the stairs, and presumed she probably went upstairs to change out of her work cloths. What a shame. Sheesh this woman could never be a ninja, a symphony of dresser drawers and heavy footsteps rattled the whole house. I found a lamp and turned it on, filling the room with a dull light. The house well furnished with velvet couches, cherry cabinets and an old original fireplace. Predictably on the mantle was school pictures of Lucy. Here she was figure skating in Central Park age 6, here was her embarrassing 8th grade school picture braces and all, here she was at senior prom in some kind of bedazzled disaster. Soon the elephant fell back down the stairs, padded footsteps, then Lucy reemerged in an oversized Blink182 T-shirt and hideous, threadbare, grey sweatpants. Quite a disappointment from her earlier get up, but I wasn't about to say anything.

"You're not lactose intolerant are you!?" She called walking past him on her way to the kitchen. I followed her, turning on the light behind her. Now that I could finally see her in a well lite room I could tell she was exhausted. Her makeup looked worn and smudged around her eyes, her tousled blonde hair pulled up in a careless bun, but it was easy to see why she worked at a sports bar. Besides her ass, blonde hair and phenomenal tits, she had these chocolate brown eyes that seemed to pin you where you stood. It was like she was challenging me to say something inappropriate, I thought them, shoot any hot blooded male would think them. The difference was I didn't state the obvious. She was a smoke show and she knew it, no need to remind her.

"Nope!" I watched amused as she clambered through the cupboards looking for something. Finally, she emerged brandished a frying pan.

"Grilled cheese it is then! That's about all I have energy for." She bustled about grabbing the butter, cheese and bread.

"Fine with me, I'm starved!" I said rubbing my hands together and helping myself to a stool on the opposite end of the black granite island. Suddenly she looked up at me, her bright brown eyes locking onto mine, and for a second I felt paralyzed for some reason, my stomach did a weird flip.

"So… what was that thing that took my keys anyways?" She said buttering the sides of the bread. She was making herself a sandwich as well.

"It's a shadow demon. They typically make themselves at home in abandoned houses."

"Oh… well I guess that makes sense. There's an abandoned house right behind that lamp post. It's hard to tell because the forest kind of swallowed it up…. So is that where the demon is?"

"Most likely."

"What does it want with my keys though?"

"Who knows...Hey is that done?"

"What!? Oh, yeah." The sandwiches had started to burn. She plated them, cut them both in half, and handed me one. I scarfed that sucker down even though it was burning hot, the heat didn't bother me, plus I hadn't eaten in probably two days.

"Geeze, you really are hungry." She said pouring a glass of milk and handing it to me. I snatched it up and gulped it down. "Here, you can have the other half of my sandwich. I'm not that hungry." She pushed her plate towards me. Like an animal I snatched that up to. I knew I was hungry, but suddenly with food in front of me I was ravenous. She opened a bag of pretzels and set it down on the counter in front of me.

"So how do I get my keys back?" She asked a hand on her hip. Her sweat pants had started to fall down while she was cooking, revealing just a peak of her baby pink lacy underwear.

"YOU'RE not getting your keys back." I say between handfuls of pretzel.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M NOT GETTING MY KEYS BACK, THAT'S THE WHOLE REASON YOU'RE HERE IN MY KITCHEN WHILE I FEED YOU! IT'S TO GET MY KEYS BACK!" She shouted snatching away the bag of pretzels.

"Relax!" I reached over the counter to grab the bag of pretzels back. Swiftly she took a step back holding the bag over her shoulder, her lips in what she probably thought was a fearsome scowl. I sighed. "What have you got to fight that thing with, eh? I don't suppose you have more keys hidden somewhere on your uh…. person." I gestured. "One glittery whip isn't enough to defeat that thing and I'm guessing those keys are your main source of magic am I correct?" Laser eyes, that's what I got back. A magical power even human females who have no magical ancestry at all have, I don't know how they do it. She just stood there frozen, trying to cut me in half without saying anything, the pretzels dangling by her right ear. In a move I thought was slick as a panther, I did a one handed leap over the island, landing softly in my socks right in front of her. "But don't worry, I'll help you get your keys back. For a price." I grinned down at her plucking the pretzels out of her hand.

Suddenly I became very aware that I have invited a total stranger into my home, with my dad out of town and my best chance at defense missing. I can be so oblivious sometimes. Here he was standing a hairs breath away from me, a total stranger in my kitchen! Oh, and did I mention he was basically shirtless? What was I so desperate and helpless that I needed this total stranger's help? Well… yes, the answer was yes, I needed my keys back, but I hated that I had to rely on the good graces of this bozo. Who was he that he thinks he can take this demon of darkness or whatever it is on his own?

"And what would that be?" I glared up at him, my sassiest eyebrow raised. Oh, and I LET him take the pretzels from me, it wasn't worth him coming any closer. He sighed and went to go sit back on his stool.

"Oh that's simple, I just need some room and board before I get my next job. I'm flat broke right now." He started scarfing down more pretzels.

"And exactly how are you homeless?" I said incredulously. He didn't look homeless, I'm pretty sure that stupid vest was Gucci, and I would bet 6 inches off my hair his belt was Hermes.

"I got kicked out of my guild." He shrugged.

"Ok… whyyy?" Omg he's in a guild! Or rather WAS in a guild. This guy must have some serious magical abilities. Pretty much magic is hereditary, and there's not many humans left that can do any at all. I've inherited a little from my mother, and my father is lovely, but he's just a regular, plain old, run of the mill, human being. Basically that means I only have enough magical power to wield objects that already have magic. Without them I am basically like anyone else, which is why I HAVE to get my keys back. This guy was right, they are the source to my magical powers, ….. not that I'd ever admit that. To be good enough to be in a guild, that must mean this guy has some kind of power on his own, which is pretty rare. If you have enough magic, you don't have to go to continued education, you can get hired by a guild right out of high school and they'll put you to work doing all kinds of cool adventures! I was never magic enough to get it in, that's why I'm working on my journalism degree. I can do magic, but I still have to get a real job like normal people. Think of my magic as really more as a hobby than a job.

He shrugged. "Let's just say, political differences."

I didn't like it but I _really_ didn't have a choice but to trust him. If I told my Dad I lost my keys he would KILL me! I inherited them from my mother when she died, and to hire a guild to get them back would costs thousands, like new car thousands. He was right, I probably couldn't get them back on my own either, I would at least need help. Plus, I did feel bad, this guy really did seem pretty hungry.

"Okay, let's pretend for a second I am entertaining the idea of you staying here until you got another job, how long do you think that would take?" I asked watching him finish the bag.

"Oh, I don't know a couple weeks or so." He said dumping the bag upside down, practically licking up the crumbs.

"A couple of weeks! Listen my dad gets back the 5th so you HAVE to be gone by then. I don't want to have to explain this whole thing to him."

"That sounds like a deal to me!" He said looking up at me from his stool, eyes all sparkling.

"Wait a minute, I didn't say that just yet." I opened the cupboard looking for more snacks for him. If this deal was going to go down, he was about to eat me out of house and home! Plus, I wasn't so sure how safe it was to have A TOTAL STRANGER live in my house! What if he nicked stuff? I found an old Costco jar of animal crackers that I opened and slid across the counter to him. "What's your name anyways?"

"Oh. I didn't tell you that yet? I'm Natsu!" He looked up at me grinning from ear to ear chomping on a tiger and a camel.

"Well Natsu, I suppose you can have the couch. I'd offer you the guest bedroom but my dad's turned it into this weird taxidermy project lately." He leapt up off the stool and extended his arm to shake my hand.

With a mouth full of animal crackers, he said "It's a deal!" He shook my arm a little too vigorously, I had to clutch at my right shoulder socket afterwards.

"Alright well, I'm going to go shower, fetch you some pillows and blankets then go to bed." I yawned.

Anybody no matter who you are or where ever you are in the world, a warm shower is always a welcoming feeling. All the struggles and worries of the day just seem to melt away with the steam. The hot water loosening your muscles and stifles your fears. In my busy life, showers where my time to be totally alone with myself and my thoughts. For just a moment all my problems became tomorrow problems, and I could just let my floral shampoo saturate my hair, watching the suds disappear down the drain.

After my shower I towel tried my hair and wrapped up all cozy in a fluffy robe. I went to the linen closet and grabbed, sheets, blankets and extra pillows for the strange man downstairs. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all, I mean it's not like the guy was unattractive and he seemed nice enough. It had been getting pretty lonely around here. Maybe this would turn out to be a good thing. I would get my keys back, hopefully he wasn't over estimating his own powers, and maybe I would make a new friend. I mean the fact that he was part of a guild was pretty cool! What did 'political differences' really mean anyways? Wow. Way to be vague. I tip toed downstairs concerned that this, Natsu guy, would already be sound asleep or something. Little did I know my concern was unfounded because I walked into the kitchen where I heard a bunch of commotion. To my utter horror it was like someone had released a pack of raccoons in my kitchen!

"NAAAATTTSSUUUUUU!"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The Shadow Demon

I woke up to the sound of cupboards slamming, the sink running and the clinking of dishes. I groaned and rolled over to check my phone, no new messages. Shocking. My eyelids still felt heavy and my left side felt all stiff from sleeping on a couch that was clearly more intended for decoration than comfort. Figuring this bitch wasn't going to keep quite enough for me to fall back asleep I sat up running a hand through my hair. I sat there for a moment listening to Lucy's not so subtle grumbling to herself about the mess I had left in the kitchen. She had no idea how much work this was going to be getting her keys back, lucky she stumbled across me really. So what if I made myself at home?

I got up and started towards the kitchen to greet her highness, leaving my vest still folded on the coffee table. The embroidery was uncomfortable to sleep on, and really I only left my pants on as a courtesy. Scratching my back I walked into the kitchen which was now well lit by day light streaming in through the paned French doors that led out onto the back deck. "Good morning to you too Sunshine." I said sarcastically as I sat back on my designated stool. She had been hand washing a pan in the sink and I must have startled her because she slopped water all down her front.

"Wha… I can't BELIEVE the mess you made last night! You animal! You LITERALLY ate me out of house and home!" She ranted on some more but I stopped paying attention as I reached for a banana on the counter.

"What can I say? My kind of magic burns up a lot of energy." I shrugged.

"You where dipping pickles in mayonnaise…... and besides you didn't even use any of your magic last night!"

"But I hadn't eaten since I used magic." I say between bites of banana. She didn't have a comeback for that, so she just dried off the pan in silence. A little cheeky, I say "So what's for breakfast?"

She spun around to glare at me with those laser beams again, but then her eyes soften and she said "Fiiiine, I'll start the coffee." She strutted to the other side of the kitchen to the expresso machine, and thank all the gods that may or may not exist she's wearing yoga pants today. I'd say Lucy's about 5'7", so on the taller side, which meant her legs ran up for miles. God, living with this chick for the next week was going to be torture in the worst way. There was silence as she had her back turned brewing the coffee, and I was kind of just stuck in a trance. I finally snapped out of it when she asked "Black?"

"Is there any other way?" I say taking the mug from her, and watching her pour some sugary, creamy, abomination into her beverage.

"So what's the plan today!? What's step one?"

I laughed, I really threw my head back and laughed. This bitch thought she was going to fight a demon, today, in yoga pants. "Let's just say WE'RE not doing anything today. Shadow demons don't come out in direct sunlight, but once it is dark they are attracted to artificial light. That's why it liked to hang around that lamp post probably. No, I'm going to have to wait for it to turn dark and then lure it out."

"Okaaayy… so how can I help?"

"That's cute."

"What?"

"That you think you can help."

"Listen here Mr.! My keys are missing, and I'm going to do anything within my power to get them back! You are DREAMING if you think I am just going to sit around at home and just assume you're doing your 'best' okay! I am coming with you. And you know I'm not totally useless! I still have my whip!" Her hands flew to her hips and was leaning up in my face. She smelled like roses, and vanilla and whatever else it was girls smelled like these days.

"Fine! You can come and hold the flash light." I rolled my eyes. Okay so I'm not totally immune to her womanly charms. Really she was just going to get in the way and make my life harder, but whatever, not my clowns, not my circus.

"Let's plan to squad up at midnight then, okay?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I say. "Midnight! We need to start as soon as the sun goes down, that will give us all night to figure out what to do with this thing."

"I have to work tonight."

"'I have work tonight'" I mocked. "Do you want your keys back or not!?"

"Well seeing as you ate all the food here; do you want me to go buy more groceries or not?" She got me there.

After coming back from grocery shopping I lounged around on the couch all day, eating Pringles and watching the Deadliest Catch. Lucy had made me put on one of her dads plain white undershirts to go to the store in. About 5:30 I heard her thunder down the stairs again, and she appeared in the hallway, and I had to dry swallow some chips to avoid spitting them out. She was all ready for work alright.

Full glam, fake eyelashes, lipstick, contour the whole works. Her long blonde hair was curled and down, parted in the middle, with green bows clipped on either side. Not only that but how on earth did her dad let her leave the house like this!? Her blouse was one deep breath away from scattering buttons everywhere. Her skirt a pleated, green plaid, that was way too small, she wasn't even moving around yet and I swear I could see the beginning of her ass.

"Okay.. uh I should be home about 11:30 depending on the customers." She said bending over, puckering her lips to fix her lipstick in the mirror hallway. Oh god boner city! I literally couldn't reply because of the dry chip particles in my throat. She stood there sheepishly for a second, the tension in the room awkward because all I could do was stare at her and cough. "Well… just make yourself at home I guess. And don't start without me!" She called and she ran out the door.

I raced through stop signs and made every right on red possible on my way home. I was late. I was supposed to meet Natsu, and be ready by midnight and it was already 12:20! He's going to be so furious with me! This was all to get my keys back and I knew that, but work was work, it's not like I could leave Levi with that shit storm. A large party of coal miners came in 20 minutes before closing, and I wasn't about to leave my best friend alone with our less than wholesome cook and a group of strange men. That's why I was trying to make up for lost time Fast and Furious style. Blonde girl, Nissan Ultima, breaking all the traffic laws, I know, we all think we're Vin Diesel.

I screeched into the driveway, sprinted into the door panting "Natsu! I'm so sorry…"

"Come on, let's go." He was already at the door, he slapped a flashlight he must have found somewhere in the house, in my hand, and grabbed my arm marching me out onto the street. I guess an ensemble change was out of the question. At least I was wearing sneakers, and I never went anywhere without my holster. He let go as we approached the lamp post I had defeated the night prior. "The abandoned house is somewhere in there?" He gestured towards what appeared to be just a thick forest. I knew the house was there, not because I'm at all brave and go exploring abandoned houses, but because when I was little the shrubbery wasn't as thick as it is now, and you could still see it from the street.

"Yeah." I panted, I had basically had to jog to keep up with him. Without skipping a beat, Natsu put out his hands out palm up, closed his eyes and started chanting some mystical mumbo jumbo. Tendrils of sparkling, gold, light seemed to manifest out of thin air above Natsu's hands. The tendrils starting winding together, faster, and faster, and soon a cylinder of bight, golden light began to grow in Natsu's upturned hands. As suddenly as they appeared, the golden tendrils of light vanished, leaving an elegant, glossy katana in its sheath in Natsu's hands.

I stood there, open mouthed, gaping at him like an idiot. Nobody can do magic like that anymore, NOBODY! Who. The fuck. Was. This. Guy. He just manifested a weapon out of thin air! No magic dust, no jewelry of any kind, so far as I could tell, no magic anything to aid him at all. I stood there dumbstruck as he unsheathed the blade that was a shiny metallic black. He started at the forest hacking his way through vines and branches. He looked back at her exasperatedly. "You coming?" he asked.

"Yep!" I chirped, trotting to catch up, turning on my flash light. Play it cool Lucy. Play. It. Cool. We made it about 30 yards of Natsu hacking at nature. The whole while my mind is racing trying to figure out what kind of magic he's using. In this day and age, it's rude to ask. That's basically the equivalent of asking someone how much money they make. Is it maker magic? Is it transformation magic? Some kind of summoning?

Finally, we arrived at the abandoned house. In its hay day the house was probably beautiful, it was a classic red brick house, with huge white pillars out front, some of the windows where stained glass. The door was enormous, with a huge, wrought iron, lion head, door knocker. 50 years had not don't this house justice, destructive vines had eaten away at the left face of the house, imbedding themselves permanently. All the windows on the ground floor had been bored up, covered in graffiti. The second story windows where all blown out, broken glass littering the surrounding yard. As we approached, I moved my beam of light back and forth trying to see where I was going, our feet crunching on layers of dried up leaves. Vaguely I wondered why Natsu didn't find himself a flashlight.

Goosebumps trickled up my arm as we heard a creak from inside the house, I gave a start. Natsu spun around to look at me, worried I was in trouble. "Sorry." I whispered. He rolled his eyes, cautiously approaching the house, we both stopped when we reached the front door. He held out his hands again and muttered something, and the sword vanished in a puff of gold glitter. He reached up and used the lion head knocker, the sound echoing through the forest.

"What did you do that for idiot! That's not going to work!" I hissed at him.

"Ssshhh!"

As if in my worst nightmares the enormous door's hinges creaked and the door swung open of its own accord. Ice cold water just got dumped in my veins. Everything in my mind wanted to scream like a little girl, and run all the way home. Natsu, however, seemed unfazed, he walked in like it was an automatic door at a super market. Drawing on his calm energy, I flanked him, my heart racing a mile a minute.

The inside of the house was marvelous, the entry way had tall ceilings with a chandelier that had crashed to the floor long ago. The floors where marble, but where now covered with moss and leaves. Leading off to the right and left where twin grand staircases spiraling up to more unknown corridors. I kept one had on my whip, the other death gripping the flash light. Other than the dim rays of the moon from the upper stories, it was our only source of light. We entered into the dining room together, the crunch of the leaves under our feet betraying our position. A long, claw footed table still the center piece, high backed chairs with moth eaten upholstery scattered around the room. The moon light from above, shone in eerily on the table, reflecting off of some forgotten pieces of silverware. Natsu, stopped and scanned the room. "Go stand over there." Natsu ordered pointed to the far corner of the room. I did as he said, my heart hammering. "Good." He praised. "Now, point the flashlight at the ceiling above the table, and Lucy, whatever you do, don't move from that spot."

"Okay." I said, shaking as I raised my light. My flashlight glinted off of another chandelier, this one brass with fake candles lining the edges. As I watched a black liquid began to drip from the base of the chandelier. More and more dripping.

"Get ready." Warned Natsu. "And remember, don't move from that spot." Soon the black liquid began to evaporate into a purple gas, burning scars on the wooden table. My resolve was about shot, and it was all I could do to obey Natsu's orders. A hand just like the one we saw before, both appeared and slithered its way out of the ceiling. I clapped the hand that was on my whip over my mouth to keep from screaming. Another hand. The most terrifying head began to emerge. Twisted black horns, the snout of some kind of ruminant, but worst of all it had the ears, eyes and teeth of a human. It's teeth, startlingly white against its liquid black skin. It started to pull its enormous body out of the ceiling with its human arms and hands, it looked right at me with its black iris's and turned to flash me a bright Cheshire cat grin.

"Back for more I ssseeeee." It had a serpent like voice. I stood there, rooted to the spot, the light from the flash light shaking all over the place, my head felt light, my knees felt weak…

"Hey Buddy!" Called Natsu from the other side of the room. "We came to collect!" Bright orange flames suddenly burst from Natsu's fists, licking up his forearm and illuminating the room. Before the demon could react, he sent a fireball at it, causing it to come crashing out of the ceiling. Its body was huge, like 8 feet tall! It had the torso of a man, and the lower half of a goat, the whole thing was a liquidly black, except for its teeth and the sclera of its eyes. It came crashing down splitting the table in two, a horrible hissing sounded as the gas from its body began to sizzle, burning everything it touched. Natsu didn't waste any time, he sent another fireball at it. "You took something from us last night…" Natsu said, approaching the demon now, his fists ablaze. "And we want it back!" Natsu punched the demon sending it barreling in the air towards me, I made an inhuman screeching sound and scurried away before it crashed into me. I turned, both hands on the flash light keeping it steady, holding the beam on the thing. I didn't know if it was helping or not, but I didn't know what else to do and it seemed right. Natsu was cocking back for another punch when….

"Wait! Wait! Are you talking about the celesssstial keeeysss!?" It hissed, holding up a dripping hand as if to shield its self from Natsu's next blow. Natsu lowered his fists a smidge.

"Yeah! Where are they!?"

It happened because Natsu wasn't expecting it, it grabbed Natsu by the throat and raised itself to full height, Natsu's legs dangling helplessly, his arms frantically trying to release himself. All the while a horrible smell of burning flesh filled the air, as the acid the demon was emanating seared Natsu's skin.

I couldn't explain why, by my brain just clicked on fight or flight mode. I wasn't running. All the fear and insecurities beforehand seemed to melt away, replaced by a foreign powerful feeling. I dropped the flash light and strung out my whip, its length beginning to glow at my touch. Natsu looked at me wide eyed, and stretched out a hand as if to tell me to stop, but I didn't listen. I lashed out my whip, coiling it around the demon's hock and pulled with all my might. It wasn't enough to bring the thing down, but it stumbled enough to loosen its hold on Natsu. The thing turned its horrible head in my direction, as if it had forgotten I was in the room. Seething with anger that I had stolen an easy victory, it liked its teeth and started for me. Natsu had fallen in a heap to the ground, clutching the burns on his throat. I was at the ready, my whip at my side, as it smashed its way across broken chairs to get at me. The shadow demon bent down to back hand me out of the way, but I managed to catch it with my whip, with the intention of pulling him to the ground.

However, I had grossly overestimated my own strength, and underestimated the demons. With my whip coiled around its forearm the demon lifted me into the air like I was weightless, looking at me, and baring all his teeth in another horrifying smile, he lifted his other arm to grab me by my waist. Just before his acidic, solid/liquid/gas form touched my skin we both went flying. Propelled by the length of the whip, my back slammed into the ceiling, knocking the wind out of me, and then I came crashing to the ground, hard. My head ringing, my vision blurred, I pulled myself up, my bare knees crunching against broken glass on the floor. I heard Natsu's deep screaming at the demon. "Where are the keys!?" I rubbed my eyes, willing my vision to come back into focus. All I could see was the blurry outline of the demon with a bonfire amount of flame on top of it, pinning it in pace.

"I don't have them anymore." The demon managed to choke out.

My vision was returning, and I was starting to stand up.

"What do you mean you don't have them anymore!?"

"I wasssss hirrred to sssssstealll them."

I staggered forward trying to regain my balance.

"HIRED BY WHO!?" Natsu cocked back a fiery fist to land another blow, but not before the demon mule kicked him in the stomach, sending him crashing through the opposite wall.

"NATSU!" I yelled, his flames went out and my flash light somewhere along the fight had gotten crushed. All I had was the dim moon light to guide me. I unleashed my whip again trying to distract the demon from Natsu. I had to outsmart it this time, if I was going to have a snowballs chance. I was letting the whip dance around in front of me, while I backed up slowly trying to think of a plan as it approached. In the distance I heard Natsu wrestling through the debris.

"Little girl, haven't you had enough!? Sssssaber Tooth didn't think very much of you eitherrr. You'll ssseeee when I'm through with youuu…" Taunted the demon as it closed in on me. Then, a lot of things happened at once. I used my whip to entangle the demons' feet, and out of nowhere Natsu comes flying through the air, a ball of fire a fury, a massive snarl ripping through his chest, his eyes glowing, and slams into the back of the demons' neck. As the demon crashed on the floor at my feet, it snapped its head backwards, impaling Natsu through the shoulder with his horn. He cried out in pain. I cried out…

"Natsu!" But I didn't dare interfere again, I didn't catch it but somehow Natsu had summoned his Katana again, gritting his teeth and using what must have been his last bit of reserve, he beheaded the Demon. The enormous head slumping to the floor with a wet thud. Once dead the monster dissolved into a pool of dark liquid that started to boil and evaporate into more purple gas. I rushed over to him, he was bleeding badly, he already had blood all down his side. My dad's undershirt was long gone, burned off by one of Natsu's earlier fireball attacks. His sword disappeared and he stumbled towards me. I caught him, helping him stand.

"L-lucy, w-we've gotta.. get.. gas. Not. Good.." He struggled and swayed where he stood, as he moved, more blood pooled out of him and onto the floor. My stomach clenched. I know full blooded wizards are stronger than normal humans, but I had no way to gage if how much blood he was losing, all I knew was that it looked like a lot.

"Natsu. I've gotta get you to a hospital, you're losing a lot of blood." I said letting him lean on me as I helped him out of the house.

"No! No hospitals!..won't…help." He gritted.

"Wha…Natsu, I don't know if I can…"

"No hospitals!" He insisted. I wasn't agreeing to that, if I couldn't stop the bleeding, I was calling an ambulance. No way was I going to let him die doing a favor for me. And it wasn't just the bleeding, he had acid burns all over his body, the worst of it around his neck where the demon had him in a choke hold, apart from that he was riddled with cuts, scrapes and bruises from the debris. With each step towards the house his breathing became wheezier and labored. My own knees where killing me, I was pretty sure I still had shards of glass in them, I was also positive I had a concussion from hitting the ceiling, but none of my wounds where life threatening.

Natsu bled all through the street leaving a trail directly to my house. We stool at the base of the steps, Natsu barely conscious, he looked bad, he was really pale and his breathing really worried me. "Can you make it up the steps? All my medical supplies are in my bathroom upstairs." He didn't answer but he nodded. We took our time, him struggling to stay conscious and standing, me struggling to lift his body weight up the stairs. Eventually we both made it worse for the wear, the air was filled with the sounds of our panting. "Okay, this way." I led him into my bathroom and he collapsed in my bathtub. I switched the light on and started rummaging through all my crap trying to find what I needed. It's like one of those times that the stuff is always in the way when you don't need it, and when you do need it, you can never find it. Finally, I found it, a basket of first aid stuff deep in my vanity. I sighed of relief when I found it. I turned back around to start treating Natsu, and I did not like what I saw.

First of all, he was covered in blood, his whole chest was combination of dried and fresh blood. His jeans down his left pant leg was soaked with blood as well. His head was lulled to the side and his eyes where closed, his breathing was still audible and labored but he was breathing. I took a first aid course in high school and Bio 100 in college but I was in WAY over my head. Okay, Okay Lucy first step. The priority right now was the bleeding, once I got that under control I could address the other injuries. I needed to see what the actual wound looked like, so far it was so bloody I couldn't tell how bad it really was, or how deep. I had one of those snake head shower heads so I turn on a gentle stream of warm water to clean way all the blood off his torso. He stirred a bit but didn't fully wake up. Finally, I could get a better look at his impalement wound, it was wide, about the circumference of a tangerine, but it didn't go through and through. Step two, disinfectant. I took a sterile gauze and poured some hydrogen peroxide over it, this was going to sting but it's not like I keep Betadine around the house. As soon as it made contact Natsu's skin, he jolted awake.

"AH! Fuuuck!" He yelled, impulsively clapping a hand to my wrist.

"It's okay" I assured him, "I'm just disinfecting it." We made eye contact for a moment, he still seemed pretty out of it. He looked right at me and gave me a curt nod as if to say 'All right, I trust you' before passing out again.

Delicately as possible I rubbed away the dried blood and dirt in the wound. Okay Lucy step three, pack the wound. I grabbed about all the gauze I had, and packed it into the wound, being careful to wet the first couple with saline solution. Then using whatever kind of medical tape I had on hand, began taping up the wound, as tight as I could without cutting off circulation. It wasn't textbook, but hopefully it would work. When I was finished I watched a tinge of red just peak through the bandage and then stop. PHEW. I stopped the bleeding. But Natsu wasn't out of the woods yet. He was all wet from his shower earlier and with all his blood loss I couldn't risk him getting cold. With a huge effort I pulled off his shoes and wet jeans, I left his underwear 'cause you know, I don't know him THAT well. I dashed in my room for a second and ripped the comforter and pillows off my bed. I lifted his head up off his shoulder and put it on a pillow, and cocooned him the best I could in all my blankets. Then I addressed the rest of his wounds, to his burns I put burn cream, and he has some more minor cuts that needed dressing as well. When I finished and sat back on my haunches, I still didn't like the way he was breathing, and shallow and wheezing, so I just sat on the bathroom floor watching him, making sure his breathing didn't get worse, and he didn't start shivering. I got concerned when he broke out in a cold sweat, I wrung out a warm wash cloth and washed his face with it, but I didn't know what more I could do. I just sat there cross legged on my pink fluffy bathroom rug and prayed he would wake up.


	4. Chapter 4

_Chapter 4_

Boys are Dumb

The first thing I remember was that I was aware of an all-consuming itchiness, pretty much all over my body. It was a sensation I was familiar with when my body healed itself, but it never lessened in intensity. I was scratching myself before I even opened my eyes. Where was I? What had happened? Everything sounded quiet, no distant voices, no overpowering smell of bleach. Good, that means Lucy hadn't been a nimrod and taken me to a hospital. I flittered my eyes open. I was in a bathtub? The worst bathroom I had ever seen. It was like Paris Hilton and Barbie had died in here. Everything from the shower curtains, to the blankets Lucy must have tucked me in with, just everything was some kind of pink, lacy, fuzzy, floral, bullshit. God I was itchy!

There was Lucy, she had fallen asleep facing me, her arm propped up against the edge of the tub, her head resting on her arm, her hair a rat's nest. She had lost her bows somewhere in the fight, her face dirty except where her tears had washed away the soot. It was almost cute. She also looked a hot mess. Her white blouse and skirt was covered with, I deduced, my blood. She had various scrapes, some looking worse than others… her knees! They were angry and inflamed, they had stopped bleeding by now but I could tell they had at a point because she had droplets of dried blood all down her filthy legs. To be honest she looked like a cliché scream queen, all bloodied in a school girl outfit.

I tore off my shoulder bandage as that was the main source of my unbearable itching. It's like when you get an itch on the bottom of your foot, and you scratch it, but the itch seems to becoming from underneath the callous, it feels like, that just everywhere. Still scratching myself I looked at Lucy and sighed. Poor girl must have been really worried, she probably thought I was going to die, and to her credit I was alive. I wasn't in as much danger as she probably thought I was, but hey. It got her hands all over me didn't it? I mean, I didn't really need her help; it would have been simpler to take the demon on my own, without having to damp my magic in front of her so she wouldn't catch fire. I will admit, I did underestimate her. She doesn't have that much magical skill, but she sure does have the chutzpa of a full blooded wizard.

Trying not to wake her up, I pulled the blankets off myself and stood up. I looked down and had to smile, she had disrobed me except for my boxer briefs, probably for the best, she couldn't handle all this anyways. I looked down at my feet, at Lucy still sleeping soundly on the floor, all propped up awkwardly against the tub. I rolled my eyes at myself as I took the blanket she had covered me with and burrito'd her with them. I scooped her up to displace her on her bed. She must be really exhausted, because she was pretty much a limp noodle, but she moaned and rolled over in comfort once I placed her in her bed. Suddenly my ringtone started blaring from somewhere back in the bathroom. I dashed for it, worried it would wake Lucy up, and also because I didn't want to answer any questions someone calling me would arise. Hurriedly I fumbled in my wet jeans pocket for my phone. It was Grey. Gingerly I shut the bathroom door.

"Yeah." I answered.

"Hey! Natsu, how've ya been!?"

"What's it to you?" None of this was really Grey's fault. He's my best friend, and didn't really deserve the attitude.

"Hey! Did you know someone killed a shadow demon on the east side of town without a permit last night!? Was that you!?"

"Is Laxus ordering you guys all around yet?" I dodged. Ignoring my question, Grey plowed on.

"'Cause I heard it was awesome! Whatever it was tore the demons head clear off!" Shit. He knew.

"Who else would it be?"

"I knew it! Why'd you take that thing on anyways? Was it for a job!?"

"Hey, how is everyone?" I dodged again.

"Oh.. you know same ol' same ol'. Wendy's trying to improve her healing powers and Erza is still as scary as ever! Haha…. But you know…. It's just not the same without you Natsu… Why don't you just…."

"Forget it Grey! I'm not going back! I don't want to be part of a guild that doesn't respect it's memebers!" I snap. This is why I've been avoiding Grey. I knew he would try to convince me to grovel for my old position back. I'd rather die than give Laxus the satisfaction.

"Natsu… it's not like that! It's not what you think."

"….Drop it Grey." There was a moment of awkward silence.

"…..So how are you doing? Okay I hope? Where are you living?" Asked Grey

"Sheesh! What are you? My mother? I'm doing great, I've got this freelance gig going on." Okay so a little white lie. I wasn't about to admit to him that I was couch surfing on this wench's couch.

"Ooooh right. That makes sense… the shadow demon and everything."

"What about you? You've got any jobs lately?" The air between us immediately got stale again.

"….Natsu.. you know I can't te…."

"Forget it. I know, my mistake."

"Hey, Natsu, I've gotta go. Juvia's calling….but hey! It was nice talking to ya!"

"Yup." I said as I touched the red circle. It was nice to talk to my best friend again after weeks of silence, but man did that conversation put me in a foul mood! It just a reminder of all the reasons I hate Fairy Tail! I speak my opinion one time, and they kick me out onto the street! When you join a guild all the jobs you take, and money you earn, goes into a pool, so none of your earnings are really your own. It was a communist idea in the first place if you ask me. However, most people who enter a guild are in that guild for life, so it's never really an issue. It's actually not very common for anyone to leave, but when you do, you do it with barely the cloths your back! You could spend 40 years with a guild, making them millions, and when you decide to leave…..nothing! That's why I had to scrounge up a deal with this bimbo in the first place. Freelance wizards are a thing, but they're kind of underground. It's sort of like a hitman, the jobs out there and there's decent money to be made, but do you know any? Do you even know anyone who knows of one? Doubt it. Freelance wizardry is a lucrative business to get into, that's why most wizards join a guild. It's the safer, more legal option, plus the guild will take care of you, let you buy you nice things, live in nice houses, there's even a bit of fame that comes with it if you're good. Me? I never cared much for the fame or the goods anyways. I'm in this for my own reasons, but we'll get to that later.

I still felt all itchy. Lucy had washed most of the blood off me, but she was a little too generous with all the creams and shit. So I started myself up a hot shower and got in. Wow did that feel great! I couldn't remember the last time I had a hot shower. I stood there for a moment letting the hot water run over my skin. Then I set to work on trying to figure out which of these bottles was shampoo. Christ, there's like 14 bottles in here! Who needs this much crap anyways! Moisturize this! Exfoliate that! Geeze it was hard to be a girl. AHA! Found it! I squirted a generous amount onto my hand and lathered up my hair. Hey, aside from the floral perfume smell this shampoo was pretty nice! I rummaged around trying to experiment with the corresponding conditioner.

The door swung open letting all the steam escape. "Natsu! Natsu! Are you okay!" Lucy panted, panic evident in her voice. She must have woken up and still thinks I'm injured. Pssh, regular humans can be such worry warts. To my surprise she peeled back the shower curtain in a frenzy. Now, I've never been one to be insecure about nudity like some men are, so I just turned and smiled at her, while squirting a generous amount of condition into my hands.

"Wanna join? You kinda smell." I plugged my nose as an exaggeration. She looked up at me surprised.

"Oh! Uh… you're healed!" She exclaimed scanning my naked body for injuries that where no longer there. And I'll be damned if her gaze didn't linger around my nether regions.

"You'd think so little of me as to have a measly shadow demon take me out!" I laughed, amused at her concern. Also maybe I was a little touched, I haven't decided yet. Then her gaze lingered to the bottle in my hand.

"YOU USED MY CONDITIONER! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THAT COSTS!? AND YOU SQUIRTED LIKE HALF THE BOTTLE IN YOUR HAND! YOU UNGRATEFUL SON OF A…"

"Hey, if you're not going to get in, then get out! A man could use a little privacy."

"Uuuh!" She huffed and slammed the bathroom door behind her. If you thought that was going to stop me from sampling all her lotions and potions you'd be wrong. By the end of my long shower, I was starting to understand this girl stuff. By the time I emerged from the bathroom I was a glorious god of silken skin. Unfortunately, I was greeted by a seething Lucy, who was wrapped in a towel, and clearly impatient for her shower. She wordlessly rushed past me and slammed the bathroom door behind her. Sheesh, who put bugs in her eggs this morning?

With Lucy in the bathroom I took the opportunity to familiarize myself with Lucy's room. Like the bathroom it was all pink and frilly, with white Christmas lights strewn haphazardly throughout the room. Above her bed was a shelf full of ribbons and trophies, on her night stand was a bowl with some tweezers and bloody shards of glass. She must have plucked them out while waiting for me in the shower. Huh, brave girl. She had one of those antique letter desks messy with papers, a cork-board full of pictures of her friends hung above it. All and all, pretty standard issue, complete with a bean bag and some clothes littered about the floor. As I was shamelessly filing through some papers on Lucy's desk, my stomach startled even me with a gurgling sound. I was starved!

It was already like 5:00pm already, apparently we had slept most the day away. I couldn't seem to find my cloths anywhere, so I just went to the kitchen in my towel. As I trifled through the cupboards again, helping myself to whatever easy snacks I could find, I saw it. It shone out to me like a beacon of hope! Magnetized to the fridge was the most beautiful Chinese takeout menu!

It wasn't long before Lucy came trampling down the stairs and into the living room. Her hair was wet and stringy, she was wearing black Adidas booty shorts, and a baby blue tank top. Okay, either this girl is doing this on purpose, or is completely oblivious. I haven't decided which it is yet. I was casually lounging in the living room, minding my own business. She sees me sitting there, on a chair in a towel and throws up her hands to shield her eyes, as if she hadn't just stared at me completely naked for like 60 seconds. Ugh. Girls. "No sitting on my furniture naked!... I'll be right back; I'm going to get your clothes out of the dryer." She pattered off to somewhere in the house, and as promised reemerged with my underwear and jeans, clean and dry, with another one of her dads' undershirts. "Put these on!" She orders me, a hand over her eyes, and her arm stretched out.

"Thanks for washing my cloths." I say.

"I…uh, no problem" She says. Right then the doorbell rings, for a moment she looks confused.

"I'll get it!" I chime, leaping in front of her. I return to the living room with two enormous bags of Chinese take-out. Confession time. "Lucy, I used your credit card to order take out ... but before you get mad…"

"Nnnaaatttsuu!" She starts to hiss, and I can pretty much see the steam rising off her head.

"I got Crab Rangoon's!" I finish weakly. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"I'll go get the plates." She says defeated. "We'll eat in the living room."

Unpacking the food, she says to me. "You know you could have told me you heal fast; it would have saved me a lot of worry."

"I… I didn't know you would be worried about me." I admit truthfully.

"You know; you were pretty awesome." She says sheepishly avoiding eye contact. "I'd never seen magic like that up close before!"

A strange tingling sensation ran down my spine and spread down my arms. "Aaah, you ain't seen nothing yet, kid." I reply as I playfully bumped our shoulders together as we sat down on the couch. She smiled. "Hey can you pass me the Lo Mein?" I ask. She does.

"Sooo, what now?" She asked. "What are we going to do about my keys? The Shadow demon didn't have them?"

I sighed. Truth be told I've been worried about that all morning. There's any number of people who'd hire a demon to do their dirty work like that. Hiring demons is illegal, but in a world where guild work costs as much as it does, demon hiring is becoming more and more popular. Plus, that demon straight up snatched those keys from Lucy. He didn't win them fair and square in a battle. A guild would have never operated like that. "To tell you the truth I'm not sure. I have no idea who hired that demon, or who'd be on the hunt for your keys for that matter. Do you have any ideas? Anybody that has a grudge against you or something?"

She taps a finger to her lips. "Hmm… nobody that I can think of. But that demon did mention something about the Sabertooth guild."

"Whhhaaaatt!? When? I didn't catch that!"

"It was after the demon kicked you through that wall, and it was taunting me." She shrugged. This wasn't good. This REALLY wasn't good. I've never been a bitch, but I wasn't an idiot either. I couldn't take on Sabertooth by myself, if I was still a member of Fairy Tale that'd be one thing. I sighed rubbing the back of my neck.

"Aaahh shit Lucy, I think one of their members is a celestial wizard if I remember correctly. They're probably out trying to collect more keys to gain more power, by any means necessary apparently. Whoever this wizard is, must be real desperate to steal them from you, and to hire a demon to do it no less. They should have at least given you the opportunity to tournament for them." I didn't know how to break it to her, but I was at the end of my rope, there was nothing more I could do to help her. I wanted to sure, but going up against Sabertooth on my own was sheer suicide.

For a long moment Lucy just sat there quietly just looking at her hands. "It's alright." She said, she seemed to come to the same conclusion I did without having to say it out loud. "I can't ask you to do anything more for me, you already almost died trying to help me get my keys back. At least I'm closer than I was before, and I know where they are now." She looked up at me then, putting a hand on my forearm. I couldn't meet her eyes, instead I watched her hand on my arm. "You can stay here as long as you'd like."

"Ouch. You gave up on me pretty quickly."

"It's not that I give up on you, it's just that, how can I asked you to take on one of the top guilds in the area all on you own?"

Ah crap, here I go again. "What do you mean all on my own? You're not going to help me?" Hi, I'm Natsu, I have an ego problem. "I thought you and that whip of yours came in pretty handy. Plus, I think we make a pretty good team!"

She looked up at me then, with those shiny brown eyes of hers, teeth sparkling, with all the hopes and dreams and unicorns and butterflies in the world. The kind of look enough melt any man's heart. "You really think so!?" She said brightly.

"Yeah, lassoing the demon's feet was a pretty clever move! And you know." I said, starting to get a little bashful at where this conversation was going. "I…you know, thank you for taking care of me when I was injured."

"Don't mention it." She fanned her hand in front of her face like it was no big deal. But it was. "Hey!" She chirped up brightly, "Have you seen the Great British Baking Show on Netflix yet!?" I propped my feet on the coffee table, my arms behind my head.

"Never heard of it."

She proceeded to bubble over, turning on the show and prattling on about handshakes, old ladies and all the different things she would like to try. I just relaxed and let her talk, I wasn't really interested in the show, but she seemed so enthusiastic that I didn't interrupt. I couldn't really remember hanging out with anybody like this, at least not since high school. It was kind of nice just to relax, eat food and hang out with... a friend. For hours we hung out on the couch, talking nonsense. At some point Lucy fell asleep, her head lulled to the side leaning on my shoulder, snoring softy.

A few days have passed since Natsu came to crash at my place. We've fallen into this peaceful kind of rhythm. During the day we plot on how to get my keys back, in between Natsu's endless snacking. Seriously! I'm going to go broke! A couple ideas have been talked through, all of them terrible. We did find out one thing though, Sabertooth's celestial wizard is Yukino Agria. We found that out with a bit of online detective work. I suggested to pounce on her in a dark alley, like she did to me. Natsu says that won't work, she wouldn't be so naive as to go anywhere alone, especially knowing that I'd be fixing to steal them back. According to Natsu, she's not all that formidable, she only has three keys herself, one silver and two gold ones. The problem is with my Aquarius key, that gives her three golden keys, making her stronger than before. Our strategy as of right now, is to try to get Yukino to agree to some kind of tournament with us, but we don't have anything comparable to offer for collateral. Natsu's been trying to search online for some freelance work that might involve some kind of treasure or artifact. Two birds one stone.

Today's Saturday, I have an afternoon shift at work today, then this evening some of my College friends are throwing a house party. I had pretty much blown all my friends off all week, and a couple of my girlfriends are starting to get concerned. With Natsu hanging around, I didn't want to explain, and besides, most of them are regular humans and wouldn't understand. Really I just wanted to avoid all the chastising I would get for letting a strange man into my home. This whole thing was such a mess! Not only that but, my dad comes home next week and I have NO idea how I'm going to explain the situation to him. He's going to be so disappointed in me if I don't have my keys back by then. Yup, I've fixed myself a royal mess by letting my guard down in the street that night.

I pranced down stairs after getting ready for work, my bag of clothes I was going to change into, slung over my shoulder. With my car keys jingling in my hand, I went to go tell Natsu I would be back later, and then it dawned on me. Why don't I just ask him to come? He's pretty much been cooped up in the house all week and we were friends… weren't we? I'd like to think we had some kind of relationship outside of our little arrangement, as much as he gets on my nerves sometimes. I saved him from a demon and then we ate Chinese food while watching Netflix, that's a friend in my book. I would have asked him before now, but he's so hard to read. He never responds the way I think he's going to. He wasn't in the living room, but I heard him crunching on something in the kitchen. He was eating a bowl of Lucky Charms and pouring over my laptop. "Uh…. Hey Natsu." I interrupted. I fidgeted with the hem of my skirt, all the sudden I was nervous to ask him. It shouldn't have been a big deal if he didn't want to go, I've only known the guy for a couple of days after all, so why was I so anxious? "Uh.. Some of my friends are having a house party after work if you wanted to come?" He jerked his head back like he was shocked, he turned his head from the computer screen to look at me.

Raising and eyebrow he said "What so you want me to meet your friends now? What am I your boyfriend or something?"

"Wha… uh… no… I…. just thought, I don't know, that you might want to get out of the house or something. It is Saturday." I turned beat red, I knew I shouldn't have asked him. I've now just made things all awkward. "Forget it." I said trying to recover what was left of my dignity. "Don't come."

"Whoah! I didn't say I wasn't coming, I'm curious to meet these 'friends' of yours."

Okay so then, why did he just have to be an asshole about it. Whatever. "Well if you want to come, you're going to have to hang out at my work until the end of my shift. The party is across town." I retorted, still a little miffed.

Sleezy restaurant indeed. The place was filled with middle aged men who didn't have the balls to cheat on their wives at a strip club, so they came here to ogle 20-year-old breasts. Kinda gross if you ask me, but in Lucy's defense she probably did get killer tips, plus she kept bringing me endless baskets of wings so I wasn't complaining. The facility it's self was neat in an old timey kind of way; the bar was brass with bottles of liquor stacked neatly on wooden shelves. There was stained glass accents and frosted mirrors. The initial charm of the place was lost by the cheap strings of shamrocks everywhere, and the overall cheesey Irish theme. Hence the girls in plaid skirts.

"So I hear you're coming to the party with us!" Said Lucy's friend Levi, a tray of food propped up in one hand. Lucy had introduced me when we first arrived as 'her new friend', whatever that meant. Levi seemed like a nice enough girl, she was small, significantly shorter than Lucy, 5'2"-5'3" somewhere in there. Levi's uniform fit her better than Lucy's did. It wasn't oversized, but she wasn't busting out the seams like Lucy was. The most remarkable thing about her was her navy blue, inverted bob. As somebody with an unusual hair color, I appreciated others by nature.

"I guess so." I shrugged, I didn't know how much Lucy did or didn't tell Levi, and the girl seemed suspicious.

"So… how did you and Lucy meet?"

"Oh, uh, we're old friends." I improvised.

"I thought Lucy said you where new friends?" She narrowed her eyes at me, really suspicious now.

"Uh, a newly rekindled friendship!" Shit that was weak. Sorry Lucy.

"Riiiight." Levi said turning away to go deliver food to her table.

I sat there quietly chomping on my wings, sipping a beer, trying not to watch Lucy too much. She was easily the hottest waitress here, when parties arrived they seemed to be a hair disappointed when Lucy wasn't their waitress. She strutted about all blonde hair and boobs, her skirt was so short when she bent over to hand people their plates at the end of a booth, you could just see the start of her black underwear. I wondered if she did that on purpose. I watched her sail her way through a couple of awkward encounters, smiling politely, keeping her dignity in tack, while at the same time leaving the customers wanting more. Truth be told I hated seeing this, not because I disapproved of this kind of stuff, but because Lucy had to pretend to be something she wasn't. Over short time I've gotten to know her, I have found Lucy to be pretty level headed, and down to earth girl who doesn't lose her nerve when the going gets tough. I hated to watch her act, how easily she faked a convincing smile unnerved me. Additionally, I also have to say, I didn't much care for the cook, though he was a little older than me, 30's maybe, huge, maybe 6'4" and bearded. I watched, whenever the waitresses came to him with an order, he almost never looked at their faces, and was constantly rude to them as if it was their fault the costumers ordered food.

I was sitting in Lucy's section, so I watched her seat the booth next to mine, four blue collar type men wearing some variations of boots and greasy ball caps. She went about her usual spiel, telling them all the beer specials at the bar that night. They ordered and she left the table. As soon as she turned around, the men at the booth next to mine started howling with laughter. For some reason that didn't sit right with me. I had no real reason to suspect anything, other than a pretty good understanding of boy humor. When Lucy returned to the table she passed out their drinks and took their meal orders.

"I'll be right back with your orders." She flashed them a plastic smile and turned to leave. She was halted for a split second to let another waitress with a tray full of drinks pass, but that second was all they needed. The man at the end of the booth closest to Lucy pulled out his camera phone and, sly as a fox, aimed the camera up Lucy's skirt while she wasn't paying attention. The waitress passed, and Lucy strutted off to place in their order, none the wiser.

A fire burned in my belly as I pushed my beer aside and stood up. I walked over the few feet to their booth and held out my arm expectantly. "Hand it over." I growled.

"Hey! What's it to you man!? We're just havin' a little fun that's all. No harm in it." They chuckled, looking sideways at eachother.

"I said, hand it over." I replying more forcefully. No way was I going to let Lucy enter their sick little spank bank.

"Oh, I see how it is, you wanna go huh?" Said the largest man at the table in an Italian accent as he ashed his cigarette.

"Sure." I saw, curling my right hand into a fist and igniting it on fire, the flames licking up my arm. I saw my fire reflected in their pupils.

"Oh! We didn't know it was like that!" said one of them. "Sure, here ya go, we don't want no troubles." The guy with the phone in question slapped it into my blazing hand. I crumpled the phone into bits with my fist, the melted fragments falling from my hand onto the table.

Another hour or so goes by, I'm trying to cool the stubborn flames on my fingertips by trying to hide them under the table. The end of Lucy's shift is up and she comes up to me all changed and visibly excited to go to the party. Irrationally her outfit just enraged me further. This girl had no clue the image she was putting off, and right now I was angry at her for it. Deep down I knew that it was the world that had the problem, not her. But I couldn't help it, here she was in over the knee leather boots, a tight houndstooth mini skirt, and a red crop top with off the shoulder sleeves. Even though she had no idea what just happened, I was angry at her for choosing this outfit. Which was strange for me, ordinarily I would have been on my knees thanking whatever god was listening that she had chosen it.

"You ready to go?" She said smiling stupidly at me.

"Yeah." I say grumpily, chugging the last of my beer and slamming it harder than necessary on the table.

I have no clue what had gotten into Natsu, but he was in a right foul mood in the car ride all the way over to the party. Levi was in the back seat trying to gossip with me, so I couldn't ask him about it. He rode shotgun in total silence, trying to conceal that the tips of his fingers were on fire. He seemed mad at me for some reason. What did I do? Did my shift take longer than expected? Did I not visit his table enough? Was he regretting this decision to come?

Once in the party he seemed to lighten up a bit. I brought him a bit of jungle juice in a red solo cup and engaged with people at the party. He and Levi seemed to warm up enough, cracking jokes together at my expense when I party fowled and spilled my drink all over the table, getting everybody's cards wet. I got up to head to the kitchen for some paper towels to clean it up and the last person on earth I wanted to see, was standing in the kitchen… my ex. I took a deep breath and strutted my stuff right into the kitchen, nose in the air and radiating fake confidence the jungle juice had given me. Fuck. He was standing right in front of the paper towels, talking animatedly with one of his guild members. "Excuse me." I said coldly.

"Heeey Luce!" He said grabbing my arm. "How've you been!?" He did one of those once overs.

"Hey Sting." I say curtly, snatching the paper towels, turning on my heels and walking about out of the kitchen. His friends had dropped into silence once I had entered the room, and as soon as I left I could hear their laughter, heckling Sting for how cold I had been. _Serves you right._ I thought. I headed back to where my friends and I had been playing card games, but after the spillage they evidently decided the game was over and left the table. I started to mop up the mess anyways, until I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned. It was Sting again.

"Hey Lucy, sorry about that just now."

"It's alright I say." For some reason Sting was running a hand through his hair, a tick he did when he was nervous.

"Can I talk to you about something?"

"I don't know Sting; what else is there to say?" In my head I'm thinking _YOU dumbed ME, you bastard._

"Please?" He begged. "Just for a sec."

"Alllright" I consented. I let him lead me out to the back porch.

About two seconds after Lucy left for the kitchen my phone rang. Gray again. I dashed out of the room and made my way through the party and outside to the back yard so I could hear him before I answered.

"Hey Gray, what's up!?" I answered.

"Hey Natsu, have you heard anything about wizards with magical objects being stolen?" That got my attention.

"Why!? What have you heard?"

"Last night Cana was walking home after a late night at the guild hall…. She… she's alright, but she got attacked by some kind of rat demon! He surprised her out of nowhere, grabbed her through a drain pipe she said. Anyways, he stole her cards!"

"What! You're kidding!"

"Not only that, but we've been getting reports about a whole bunch of object wizards getting their magical objects stolen from them. All the same way, a demon out of nowhere attacking them but leaving them unharmed. Have you ever heard of anything like that before? I called you because I figured you might have heard something different from us."

"Actually…" I decided just to fill Gray in, we may no longer be guild members, but we're still best friends.

"So Lucy's not even in a guild!? Wow, that's pretty low for whoever is orchestrating all this. And the shadow demon you fought said something about Sabertooth? That's news to us."

"Strange that a guild would act that way. Right?"

"I mean Sabertooth and Fairy Tail have always been rivals, but I've never heard of them doing anything like this before."

"Somethings fishy here if you ask me." Gray said something else that I didn't catch. Lucy was just lead out onto the balcony above me by someone I thought looked pretty familiar. "Hey Gray, I gotta go. Catch ya later."

"Listen Luce, I'm sorry for what I said to you a couple months ago." Stings hand was on my arm still, crowding me up against the balcony.

"I forgive you." I said softly, not meeting his eyes. Sting's not a bad guy, but he doesn't always have the best intentions. Other times he acted like a total prick, like because he was in a guild, it made him better than me somehow.

"You do!" He said brightly.

"Sure, why not." I shrugged. No point in holding a grudge.

"Sooo you does this mean we're back together?" He asked smoothly, placing a hand on my hip.

"I..I don't think so, Sting." I reply. Maybe a week ago I would have had a different answer. Something about fighting that demon with Natsu, well it gave me more confidence, more self-esteem. Plus, as powerful as Sting is, he would have never helped me the way Natsu is. Sting always just saw my keys as like 'look at this cute thing my girlfriend can do', rather than taking me seriously.

"Aww come on don't be like that Luce, we had so much fun together!" Before I could reply Natsu appeared sliding open the glass door that lead onto the balcony.

"What's going on here, Sting?" Natsu asked cooly. These two knew each other!? I mean I guess that makes sense, they're both in a guild, though I have no idea which guild either of them belong to. It could be the same on for all I knew. Sting was always illusive with me about that aspect of his life, when we were dating I thought it was because he was embarrassed about dating a girl not powerful enough to be one. And Natsu, well I just didn't know him like that yet.

Sting's demeanor changed, his muscles tightened and his jaw clenched. "Natsu…" he hissed out. "You know this punk Luce?"

"I…I.." I stammered, looking at Natsu, then to Sting, then back to Natsu. I was lost of words. I couldn't grasp light hearted lines that would cut the tension. What was I going to tell Natsu? _"Oh Sting's my ex, he pulled me onto the balcony to try and get back together with me."_ And what was I supposed to tell Sting? _"Oh this is Natsu, I met him on the street a couple days ago and now he's living with me."_ Turns out it didn't matter because neither of them where paying any attention to me, they were in some kind of staring contest.

"Lucy, let's go." Offered Natsu, not taking his eyes off Sting. I took a step forwards towards Natsu, but Sting put a hand on my chest and stopped me. I was missing something here.

"True that old douche bag Laxus kicked you out of Fairy Tail?" Taunted Sting. WWHHAATT! Natsu was in Fairy Tail! No wonder he was so confident about taking on that demon! Fairy Tail is huge and super exclusive, you have to be stupid magical to even be considered. Fairy Tail wasn't just one of the bigger guilds in the area, it was one of the bigger guilds on the west coast! Not all their members have been released yet, but right now they're super relevant because a Victoria Secret model, Mirajane, was just found out to also be a member of Fairy Tail. Cool!

"Yup." Said Natsu unfazed.

"What do you want with Lucy?" Said Sting, side stepping in front of me.

Natsu ignored him. "What are you doing out here with him anyways Lucy?" Again I tried to go over to him and explain, but I was stopped again by Sting. He put an arm out and pushed me back a little harder than before, in heels, I had to stumble to maintain balance. I did not like where this was going. The tips of Natu's fingers were on fire again. "Let her go Sting." Did Natsu just growl?

"Oh Lucy and I were just talking privately. It's not really any of your business." Sting smiled manically, his tone implying more than the truth. Okay, my blood was boiling now.

"No we weren't! We're done talking Sting. I'm not getting back together with you and that's final." I was starting to get pissy now, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Don't be like that. Here me out. We ain't done talkin' yet." Sting said stiffly.

"Yes, actually we are." I huffed dismissively. A third time I tried to walk past Sting. This time I got shoved so hard I fell through the balcony's wooden railing, I lost my stomach as I fell through the air backwards and for a moment my vision went black. The next thing I knew was that my back in splitting pain as I rolled over on the grass looking up at the splintered deck railing on the second story. What happened next happened so fast I can only presume that Natsu had punched Sting through the hole my body had made in the railing. The impact of both of their bodies on the lawn sent a shock wave of dirt and chunks of sod everywhere. They were both now in a small crater in the back yard. With difficulty I was trying to stand up, which proved to be a task because of the pain my back was in. As I sat upright I realized I had a splitting head ache and the heels of my boots where sinking into the soft dewy lawn. I watched as I struggled to maintain my balance.

Sting had rebutted with a double kick to Natsu's abs, Natsu barely recovered by dragging his high tops through the grass, sliding backwards several feet. By now the music had stopped and the scene had caused an audience.

Slipping and sliding in the mud I raced over between them. "STOP!" I put my arms up, panting, in the hopes that this would cause them pause. For a long tense moment, I was afraid I was about to get slammed in the crossfire, but my plan eventually worked. Natsu's arms, which had been on fire, dimmed and he lowered his fists. Sting's white light didn't dim, and he didn't lower his fists, but he did pause. I limped up to Natsu. "Let's go home." He nodded, and put an arm around my waist to help me get onto more solid footing as we limped out onto the street together.

"We're not done talking Lucy!" String shouted after me,

"Whatever!" I called over my shoulder.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Scotch in a Hot Tub

I offered to drive us home, Lucy's boot heel had broken forcing her to gimp badly and I needed something to focus on. We drove in silence for a long time, each of us trying to mull over what just happened. I felt like I had just been hit by a truck, Lucy used to date Sting! Kinda made me see her in a new light, not gunna lie. They guys always been a twat, chomping at my heels all the time to test out his own strength. And what? Did Lucy know Sting was in Sabertooth? How could she not know!? Was this all some elaborate scheme from Sabertooth? Get Natsu while he's down!? And if it was, did Lucy know about it? She seemed to be in earnest, but who knows with all that acting skills she's got up her sleeve. At the end of the day, she did leave with me…. Wonder why that is?

"So….. Sting huh?" I said coolly breaking the silence. I kept my eyes focused on the road, for some reason I couldn't bring myself to watch her reaction.

"….Uh….Yeah." She said a little feebly. "We broke up at the beginning of this summer."

"Why?" I stole myself a glance at her. She was watching the rain splatter onto her window, she had a soft unreadable expression on her face.

"Because…" She started and then paused. I kept quiet, using the awkward silence as a way to get her egg her on. "Because he told me that he can't be involved with someone like myself. A..a..half wizard. He said his guild would never accept our relationship, for that reason he never told me what guild he's in. I know he has a twin brother, but I found that out on accident." I had to keep myself in check, so I didn't rip the steering wheel out of the engine. What a pussy! What a fucking prick! He's too big of a pussy to stand up to his guild, so he made his own problems Lucy's insecurities. I had a good mind to turn the car around and give Sting the fight he's been pining for all these years. But then I stole myself another glance at Lucy, she seemed so hurt, so… ashamed. I'm not sure what was coming over me, I've never been the valiant prince type. I don't really do damsels in distress, let alone feelings…let alone other people's feelings. Back in that abandoned house Lucy had seemed so fearless, so brave, fighting that demon. In all honesty she tried saving my life more than I had tried to save hers, it wasn't Lucy's magic that was the problem, it was her confidence.

"He's in Sabertooth, Lucy." I tell her, my jaw clenched as I try to drive through the down pour.

"What!?" breathed Lucy, her neck snapped over, finally looking at me. She fell silent again, seeming to let that fact sink in. "….but why? Why would Sabertooth do this?"

"I don't know, but I don't like it. Something's fishy to me. This isn't the way guilds operate. They don't steal from other wizards, and they certainly don't hire demons to do their dirty work."

"….do you think. Do you think Sting knows about my keys?"

"I think it'd be hard for him not to know." There was another long silence. I didn't miss the tears Lucy was trying to conceal, but I couldn't bring myself to comfort her either. Drying her eyes, she said.

"So you're in Fairy Tail?" Shit. I had forgotten that little bit of information had been leaked.

"Was, I WAS in Fairy Tail."

"Why'd you leave?"

"I was fired." I said simply. I wasn't going to say anymore, but what did I have to lose? I wasn't a member anymore; I didn't have to adhere to any secrecy or rules. "Our former guild master, Makarov, was retiring and it came time for him to appoint a new one. He appointed his own grandson Laxus. Let's just say we had our differences about the appointment."

"Oh." She said simply. Thankfully she didn't press the matter.

"Lucy. My best friend called me at the party, Gray. He's a member of Fairy Tail. He says one of Fairy Tail's members, who can use card magic, got her cards stolen from her by a rat demon last night."

"What? So my keys aren't the only thing that got stolen?"

"Not even close. Apparently over the past few days there's been a number of object user's getting their magical objects stolen. And get this, they were all stolen by demons."

"Huh, that's strange. I wonder what the connection Sabertooth has with these demons. Why is Sabertooth hiring them to do this?"

"Beats me." I say as I pull into her driveway.

"Hey!" Lucy said seeming to brighten up, holding her hands out. "The rain stopped." We turned from the car to go into the house, she looked at me all sideways as if she was about to suggest something naughty. "It's still pretty early, and I could use a pick me up…. want to break into my dad's scotch?" She said as she unlocked the door.

"Hell yeah!"

She pulled out the Laphroaig 18 year, and poured us both a tumbler. Her first glass for herself she downed, then poured another before I even took my first sip. I smiled and laughed. "Atta girl!" She laughed too. Not to be out done I downed the liquor, it was smooth and very smoky.

"I know it's not very ladylike, but I like Laphroaig! I imagine it's like what making out with a dragon would be like." She said, holding the crystal glass up to the light and admiring liquid inside.

I couldn't help but chuckle to myself, I tried taking another sip to hide it.

"What's so funny!?" She accused. Then her eyes got all bright and she bounced like she suddenly got some bright idea. "I be right back!" She declared before disappearing. Elephants ran upstairs. Vaguely I wondered what she had in mind. Greedily I poured myself another scotch while I waited. I grew more curious the longer she was upstairs, I could hear drawers being opened and shut. When she emerged back into the kitchen, I spit my scotch back into my glass. Smooth one Natsu…. Real smooth.

Lucy was wearing a light pink triangle bikini, two beach towels folded in her left arm, her scotch tumbler in her right hand. Fuck me! Literally. Her long hair which had been curled for the party framed her tits. And oh god her tits! They were huge, I mean enormous, and so perfect, so immaculate. They were surprisingly perky despite their size, and perfectly round. Her nipples where even hard, you could tell through the material of her bikini. Her ribcage and waist where tapered and more narrow than her hips giving her an unreal hourglass figure. The universe was fucking with me right? "Do you want to get in the hot tub!?" She asked. An 18-year-old scotch, a blonde girl in a bikini, in a hot tub. I was in trouble. Countries have been won and lost for centuries in this world for less. Here I was, just a humble member of the male sex, powerless to stop it.

I tried to say something like "Yeah, sure." But it didn't come out right.

"This way, it's on the back porch." She said, seemly not noticing that I was dumbstruck. She leads me to the sliding glass door. I followed panting after her like a dog wagging its tail, while at the same time trying to pull off a cool indifferent demeanor. She had those little dimples some girls have above her ass, that had me already pulling off my shirt. Her ass! Finally! Her bikini bottoms gave me much more to admire than that stupid plaid skirt had been teasing me with all week. Yup, ladies and gentleman, I was up shit creek without a paddle.

I watched like an asshole as she struggled to pull the cover off the hot tub. My mind had become a blank slate and it only registered to help her after the fact. She dipped a toe into the water. I raced to pull my shoes and jeans off. Before I knew it we were both in the tub sipping scotch. She was trying to have a conversation with me, that I'm afraid I wasn't being a great participate in, it wasn't helping the blood wasn't in my head anymore. At least the head that sits on my shoulders, if you know what I mean. She was trying to fill me in on some light hearted gossip about the girls from work. I could've cared less. Before getting in the water she had swept her hair up into a messy bun on top of her head, pieces of hair still stuck out around her ears and face, too short to make it to the bun. Her face and skin was starting to get flush from the heat of the water and the buzz of the liquor.

"Hey Natsu." She said sliding through the water closer to me. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." I offer. Suddenly she turned even more pink, obviously embarrassed about what she was about to ask me.

"Is your hair naturally that pink?"

"Oh!" I laughed, somewhat relieved. "Yeah. I get it from my dad!"

"I thought so!" She said reaching up to feel the texture of it between her fingers. "Even your arm hair is pink!" I stilled at the nearness of us. I felt this weird kind of electricity, I wondered if she was acting this way because she felt it too. Or maybe she was just naive and trying to have fun. She was my hostess, and I didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable because I made a move on her that wasn't welcome.

"What about you? Are you a natural blonde?" Lucy looked at me slyly and said.

"You'll never know." A hiccup then escaped her lips and she covered her mouth embarrassed. I laughed.

"Hey Lucy…?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.

"Yeah."

"Your keys that are missing. What keys are they?" Her eye's softened and dropped to the water. I almost cursed myself for ruining the mood, but it's been something I've been dying to know.

"Well my silver key is Horologium, and my gold key is Aquarius."

"Aquarius is a pretty strong key."

"…Yeah… she is." Said Lucy, visibly saddened. "My mother passed her down to me when she died, and Aquarius was my grandmothers before her, so she's kind of become like family…. Natsu, don't you see! That's why I have to get my keys back!" Tears started welling in her eyes, making them look glassier and more seal like than usual. A single tear spilled over, and being the smooth criminal I am, reached out the lightly brush it away.

"It's okay Lucy! We'll get your keys back, I promise." She nodded silently, trying to swallow her sobs. Trying to distract her I asked.

"What was your mother like?"

"Oh she was a great wizard!" Lucy perked up. "My mom was good enough to be part of a guild, you know! She had 5 gold keys at one point! She gave most of them up when she had me, my dad convinced her that guild work was too dangerous while she was pregnant. So my mom took a couple years' hiatus. Mom was starting to get back into her guild by the time I started preschool." Lucy's tone was gradually starting to get darker. "But, on her first mission back…. Her mission got caught up with a dark guild…. And she died." I've never been good at consoling girls. I always seem to do or say the wrong thing. I was never really comforted emotionally as a child, being raised by a dragon and all. I don't really get how it's supposed to work.

"Hey Lucy….." She looked up at me.

"Yeah Natsu.."

"….. Don't listen to Sting. He's an ass. I think your magic is good enough to be in a guild…. You just need a little practice." She gave me one of those looks again, all hopes and dreams. Oh no, here we go.

"Really!? You think so!"

Like I said before. I aint ever been a bitch. "Yeah…" I say huskily grabbing the back of her neck and finally doing what I've been wanting to do since the first night we met in the street. I kissed her.

Apparently she's not as naïve as I thought. It was like she had been waiting for me to finally kiss her. At first she returned my kisses with sugar and spice and everything nice. Her lips soft and gentle. Her kisses sheepish and girly. Eventually our kissing grew hungrier and desperate. All the sudden it was like; I couldn't get inside her fast enough. She climbed on top of me, I leaned back against the wall of the hot tub, hands respectfully at her waist. She perched herself nice and pretty on my erection. The only thing between us, her bikini bottom and my wet, cotton boxer/briefs.

"Oh, Natsu.." She panted heavily. I just gave her a knowing smirk. I worked my hands up, finally, blessedly, grasping her breasts. Her skin was so soft and delicate; I couldn't get enough of it. I was drowning in her skin, my mind completely shut off, I allowed my body and instinct to take over. Annoyed with her bikini top, I ripped off the stupid string hold everything together releasing breasts most men haven't even dreamed about. On basic instinct I parted with Lucy's mouth to move down to her breasts. She cried out a little when my canines nudged her nipple. That should have been my first clue. She bucked her hips against me, making these breathy little pants.

"Oh, Fuck! Lucy." I cursed. My dick was growing with her movements, my mind going completely blank. My balls were growing heavy, the tension in my dick feeling coiled and tense. Lucky's bare boobs where bouncing buoyantly in the water. I reclaimed her mouth possessively, showing her rather than telling her how badly I wanted this. She started making little whimpering noises.

"Natsu.." She begged against my lips, her thighs quivering and my cock pulsed beneath her, it was starting to ache. I reach a hand down her smooth belly and into her bikini bottoms. Her skin down there impossibly soft, a girl like this is always well manicured. I right there, right on the edge, king, the best man alive, conqueror of the universe, home free when….

Lucy shot out of the water like a rocket, shrieking in pain. I panicked, what did I do wrong? And then I saw it. My mind had gone so blank, I was so in the moment, and the scotch had let me go too far, against my better judgement. The water of the hot tub was at a full boil, steam pouring off the sides of the tub. In my mindless pleasure I had forgotten to dim my flame. I looked down and my arms had started to become scaly, my canines enlarged. I had let this go too far.

"L-lucy! I'm so sorry!" I say getting out of the water to comfort her. She was standing on the patio clutching her naked bosom, fear in her eyes. I started toward her, and then thought better of it. "I'm sorry Lucy, I lost my composure against my better judgement. I… I didn't mean to hurt you, I just lost control there for a second." Truth be told I hadn't really thought about it before. With Lisanna I was always just free to be who I was. The dragon blood in me could always be combated by Lisanna's cat transformation magic. Lisanna is also a trained wizard in a guild, due to her training she has built up somewhat resistance to fire magic. But with Lucy…. With Lucy it would be like with a normal human, she hasn't built up any kind resistance because she's never trained before. The fear slipped out of Lucy's eyes, her facial expression transforming to that of understanding. She stepped closer to me under the porch light, and my stomach felt like it prolapsed. Two of my hand prints where red hot at her sides, branded. Fuck. For the first time in my life I hated what I was, I was the person that had done this to Lucy. Lucy, a girl that was innocent, who had been nothing but kind, who took me in as a stranger into her home when everyone else had casted me out.

"It's alright." She said softly, putting a hand assuredly on my arm. All I could do was stare at my hand prints, permanently seared onto her perfect skin. A second of carelessness on my part, would be a lifetime for her. "It's okay." She purred. But it wasn't okay. She leaned up like she was going to kiss me again, all soft and forgiving. I just couldn't. I put a hand on her shoulder stopping her.

"It's late." I said flatly. "We should get to bed."


	6. Chapter 7

Chapter 6

You Ain't Never had a Friend Like Me

Two days had passed since our little incident in the hot tub. Natsu had barely spoken to me, except to help me with trivial tasks. I could tell he felt horrible, and my sides did hurt. Really. Fucking. Bad. But it was getting annoying. Last night I was reaching for some pasta noodles on the top shelf, I cried out a little because the movement hurt. My laptop ended up in the sink in Natsu's haste to rush over to help me. Luckily the water wasn't on. More than anything I hated this awkward tension between us. Before that night it felt like we had developed a kind of friendship, now it was like we were strangers again. Whenever I asked him anything to strike up a conversation, desperate to break the ice, he'd just answer in a curt, direct way that made me feel like he didn't want to talk to me. Eventually I just gave up trying altogether. And what the fuck did he mean 'against my better judgement'!? Truthfully I was a little hurt. This was just another thing I would never be good enough for. Like Sting, I would never be magic enough to be with Natsu. He would always see me as too weak to contend with. I had thought Natsu believed in me, he was the first person in my whole life to see something in me other than just being another cliché blonde bimbo. Now I felt like he had retracted those statements when he rejected me on the porch. All that incident taught me was that I was hot enough, but I wasn't strong enough.

I was in my bedroom changing my bandages. I wondered if I should have a doctor take a look at my burns, they we're bleeding a bit and looked pretty inflamed. Then again I didn't want to have to explain. I had stop by the pharmacy on my way home from work the other night to pick up some burn cream and gauze to wrap it up with. I was at the phase of healing where it only hurt when I moved because of the layer of skin I was shedding, leaving raw scar tissue in its wake.

My phone started vibrating, rattling my whole vanity. I picked it up. Sting again. He's been calling and texting me nonstop since the party, trying to apologize. I've been avoiding him because I was still trying to process the fact that he was in Sabertooth. That, and he pushed me through a balcony, something I wasn't going to soon forget! Before Natsu came along, I had pretty much spent my summer wallowing in my room, upset about our breakup. Sting and I dated for like 10 months, and despite what others think, he's not as much as a douche bag you'd think. Looking back now, I realize he only saw me for who he wanted me to be, instead of the person I am. For a while I tried to be that person, the perfect, bubbly, female robot girlfriend Sting thought I was. After fighting that demon and realizing my own potential, I wasn't sure I wanted to be that person anymore. Regardless, I did need to talk to him, I needed to pick his brains. Does he know about my keys? Why is Sabertooth hiring demons? Why are they stealing from other wizards? What's going on!? Also, guiltily, I wanted to know what Sting knew about Natsu. They obviously knew each other, and I had this sneaking suspicion that Natsu wasn't telling me everything. Sting would tell me, he may be a lot of things, but he's not a bold faced liar. That and he was at my mercy, he wasn't just in the dog house, animal control's on their way to take him back to the pound. The perfect storm for Sting to tell my anything I want to know.

I decided to finally text Sting back. We made plans to meet at a coffee shop, near work before my shift, a place we frequented during our relationship. I got ready for work a little earlier than usual, careful to double up on my bandages so my injuries wouldn't bleed through my white shirt. I was about to leave my room when an idea sparked in my brain. I opened the door on my bedside table and pulled out a smooth, matte, black, box and dumped it into my purse. I went down stairs to tell Natsu I was leaving. He was pouring over my laptop, typing furiously away at something. "Okay, I'm off to work." I announced. He didn't even look up. "I can bring you back a burger and fries if you want!?" I said in an attempted to bring us back to normalcy, something I was beginning to worry was beyond our reach now. Barely looking up over the computer screen he said.

"No, thanks." Okay. Odd. In the short time I've known him, Natsu has NEVER turned down food before. I don't know why, but it made me feel like I had just been punched in the gut.

I went to go meet Sting in the coffee shop I knew would be busy. A part of me felt guilty for agreeing to meet him, which was utterly ridiculous. It's not like Natsu and I where dating or anything, and after the other night it seemed like that really wasn't on the table. Rationally, I knew I wasn't doing anything wrong, but it still didn't feel exactly right either.

Sting was already there at the table, with a luscious bouquet of pink peonies. My favorite. He also had my latte order ready. Immediately I could see why it would be easy to fall back into an old habit, but Natsu and Sting where wrong. I was stronger than they knew…. Just maybe in different ways than they'd expect. Sting was wearing his usual absurd outfit of a mink fur lined vest with white designer jeans like he's some kind of Abercrombie model meets Macklemore. I'd through more shade his way but I just realized…. apparently I have a thing for guys in strange vests. Clearly there's something wrong with me!

"Hey! Luce!" Sting stood up to pull my chair out for me. Okay buddy, really laying it on thick here. Before I could get a word in, he started. "Listen Luce, I'm so sorry." Why have I been hearing that a lot lately? "I didn't mean to push you through the rail! I really didn't, you have to believe me! I hope you're not hurt. You're not hurt are you?" I wriggled uncomfortably against my bandages.

"No, I'm not hurt." Only costs me a pair of $200.00 Vince Camuto boots, but like, whatever. He reached over the table to put his hands on top of mine. Funny, a couple of weeks ago I would have welcomed the gesture. Now his hands on mine felt, unnatural.

"Good!" He said. "I was worried. It's just… that guy Natsu, man! He really gets under my skin! Has ever since we were kids! Hey, speaking of, what where you doing running around with that guy anyways?"

"Do you know where my keys are, Sting?" I dodged and cut right to the chase.

"Your keys?! What do you mean?"

"My keys got stolen from me by a shadow demon last week. You wouldn't happen to know anything about it would you?" I looked up at him through the fake eyelashes I had put on for work.

"Your keys got stolen!? Sheesh Luce, I'm so sorry! Why didn't you tell me? I could've helped you!" I couldn't tell if he was acting or not.

"So, you haven't heard anything about Wizards with magical objects being stolen from them by demons?" Sting's eyebrows shot up to his hairline.

"What?! No! I this is the first I'm hearing of it. Has it made the news?"

"No. It hasn't…. That's funny to me because the demon that stole my keys told me he was working for Sabertooth."

"What!? Nobody in Sabertooth would do that!" He trailed off. "Listen Lucy, I figure Natsu probably told you what guild I'm in. That's why you're here isn't it? You want me to help you get your keys back. I'll do that Lucy I promise but, there's some odd stuff going on with the guild right now."

"Like what kind of stuff?" I ask sweetly, but also giving him 'the look'.

"Like, okay." He leaned in and lowered his voice. "Some of the guild members have been acting strange. I mean stuff like taking on jobs they wouldn't normally take; and these jobs I mean they're …odd."

"Odd how?"

"Jobs involving some unusual clients. Minerva took this job the other day for the demon Prime Minister, I don't know maybe that has something to do with it. Yukino and Sorano, they also seem to be real secretive. Hunched together, whispering fast, and as soon as any of the rest of us approach, they go silent. I shouldn't be telling you this Luce, but I don't really know what's going on."

"Do you know if Yukino has my keys? Have you seen her use them?"

"No Lucy, honestly! That's the other odd thing, I haven't seen any of them really fight recently. I'll let you know though if I catch her using Aquarius."

"Thank you, Sting. I appreciate it, I know you're going against your guild to tell me this stuff."

"Lucy, about us. I. Well. I just want you to know I am sorry for saying to you what I did." He seemed to be getting nervous, he ran a hand through his hair again. "Guild life isn't all it's cracked up to be. Some of the jobs we go on are dangerous, some wizards die!"

"I know that Sting!" I quipped, starting to get pissy. "My mother was in guild, you don't think I know that!"

"Right. I knew that. I guess all I'm trying to say is, it's not the decision I wanted to make. You're great Luce, but you know Rogue finally talked some sense into me. I didn't think there was any room in my life for someone who….." He trailed off, phrasing his next words carefully. "Someone outside of the magical world."

I gritted my teeth together, growing angrier by the second. 'Outside the magical world' eh? "I don't understand. You invited me here to breakup with me again!? I'm a wizard too ya know! Something you seem to forget!"

"No! No! It's just the opposite. I think I need you in my life Lucy! I need someone to keep me grounded. Show me that there's a world beyond this fucked up guild system! Lucy, you're lucky. You get a choice! You can live a normal life, work at a normal job, have a normal family. Magic users, we don't! Our lives are determined for us; every decision we make has to be approved by the guild. It's bullshit!"

"So you're saying I wasn't 'approved'?" Everything Sting was saying was just rubbing me the wrong way. That was always the problem with Sting. He wanted to fit me in this box of who he wanted me to be. He always treated me like some fairy princess. Don't get me wrong there's a lot of aspects there that appeal to me. However, he always treated me like the default damsel in distress, as though I didn't have powers of my own. I also felt like he projected his insecurities about being in a guild onto me, as if they were my fears and my concerns instead of his. I had come to realize Stings whole attitude towards me was patronizing, and I was over it already.

"I'm saying I don't care anymore!" Sting exclaimed, reaching over the table to gently stroke my cheek.

I could get mad, I was mad. I wanted to scream at him all the reasons that that was bullshit. I knew that nothing would really change. I wanted to release the months of pain and anger he caused me, right here in the middle of this coffee shop. Instead, I calmly chose to get him where it hurt. I pulled out the black box from my purse. It was a $15,000.00 diamond tennis bracelet he got me for Christmas; the most expensive gift anyone had ever given me. It was beautiful, but it wasn't who I was, or at least who I wanted to be. I didn't want to be a pretty girl in a box anymore. Besides, the thing made me feel like he was trying to buy me. This was my way of letting go. I slide the box across the table, Sting's eyes wide.

"I don't need this anymore." I wasn't talking about the bracelet. I scooted my chair back and turned to go. Sting stood up and caught my arm.

"Wait! Lucy, that guy Natsu. I don't know what your relationship with him is… but… don't trust him."

I blinked at him warily. "Why not?"

"He's dangerous, Luce. He's." Sting seemed to think about it. "He's not what you think he is."

Right then my phone rang. "I've gotta go, Sting." He nodded.

"Take care, Lucy." I left him there with the diamonds and the flowers.

I answered the phone as I let the door to the coffee shop swing closed behind me. It was Natsu. Before I could even answer with a greeting he blurted out.

"I've got a job!"

"What!?"

"A widow, in Denver, bought what she thought was a normal genie at one of those hoaxy magic shops. You know how most of the shit in those shops are junk and don't really work? Turns out when she went to rub the lamp, an actual Genie came out! Problem is, this genie has a nasty curse on it! It's taken over her house, she's been living out of a hotel for the past month while the genie lives in her home!" Natsu exclaimed, all excited. I was catching on to what he was saying. Genie's are extremely powerful creatures, but they can be extremely fickle, even for the most advanced wizards. Natsu continued.

"If I can break the curse this genie, not only will I get reward money…."

"…but you'll also get the genie's lamp to use as a bargaining chip!" I finished excitedly!

"And! The lady says she has her grandkids coming into town this weekend. If I can exterminate her genie by Wednesday, she'll double the reward money!" Denver was a pretty far away, at least much more than a day trip.

"Hey Lucy…" He said, dropping his tone. "Do you want to come with me?" My heart just felt like it went soaring through the heavens.

"Are you sure you want me to?"

"Yeah, I mean, I think it's at least a two wizard job. But we're going to have to drive all night to get there by tomorrow." He rambled on a bit about google maps and how to get there, but I couldn't pay attention. My first job as a wizard! A real job to! Not just something stupid and easy.

I called Levi and begged her to cover my shifts. I had to tell her a bit of truth for her to agree though. She finally sighed and said.

"Fine Luce, but you owe me big! I'm scheduled for Christmas eve…" I consented to whatever terms she laid out. I drove home all buzzed and excited, until I realized. What was I going to tell Natsu? Through my conversation with Sting I had learned a lot. How was I going to share this information with him, without telling him I met up with Sting? And even if I somehow found a way, he'd probably guess because, who else would I have learned this from? Was I over reacting? Was it narcissistic to think he'd even care? Maybe I just wanted him to. I consented to put off filling him in, until I came up with a better way to tell him.

Two hours into our sixteen-hour adventure to Denver and Lucy and I had already gotten into two arguments. The first being that it took Lucy an hour to pack, who needs that much stuff for two days!? When I found out that most of it was make-up and hair product I wanted to strangle her! The second fight was because Lucy missed a turn. This bitch thought she knew better than Google Maps. Why any man ever gets married is beyond me! At least Lucy decided to dress like a normal fucking person for once, a hoodie and jeans. Good. She won't be bringing in any unwanted attention to us with her in that stupid uniform of hers. My meager bag was packed with more borrowed clothes. Not to be ungrateful, which I wasn't, it's just that while Lucy's dad and I are close to the same height, we are not the same weight. All the clothes where too tight, impeding my movement, especially because I didn't want to rip them. After this job I desperately needed a new wardrobe. First on the list. I left my fight with Laxus in such a tiff that I didn't pack anything, I just walked out. Dramatic effect aside, I was regretting that decision now, but I was still too prideful to go back to collect my belongings.

"Tell me Natsu, what are Genie's like? What are we up against?!" She asked bouncing around in her seat, like a child all excited. Well it's not like I didn't have time to explain, we were going to be stuck in this stuffy car for an excruciating amount of time together. Using a toothpick to pluck burger out of me teeth I started.

"First off, genie's are extremely powerful, extremely fickle creatures. It's true that genie's grant wishes, but each one is a little different, just like people they have personalities. You might get lucky and get a nice genie that gets the gist of what your wish is and makes it happen. On the other hand, you could get one that's an asshole, and only grants literal wishes."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Let's say you wished to be wealthy. Well, the genie might make you wealthy in grains of rice, or Tootsie rolls, or something stupid like that. You have to be very specific with your wish. You also can't just say 'I wish to be wealthy in U.S. dollars' either. Wealth is a relative term, to some people $100.00 could be considered wealthy. You also can't just say 'I wish to 1 million U.S. dollars.' That could mean you'll get 1 million dollars now, or the genie could hold off on the wish until your 90. You get the picture."

"Ah I see, you care to be very meticulous about your wishes. Are there any limitations on the genie's magic?"

"Yes and no, that's what makes genie's extremely valuable, typically, only older more experienced wizards can effectively use one. There are some rules though, you can't wish for more wishes. You get three and that's it. You can't trick them into granting you more either. They also can't raise the dead, or time travel. If they could it would make for a sticky situation."

"Oh I see, so what can a genie do?"

"Pretty much anything, but their magic is strange. Say for example a women wished for a baby, she would get a baby. Flesh and blood, the baby would bleed, eat, drink, poop, effectively be a baby. But the baby would never grow up, be able to learn and evolve, it would be stuck a baby forever. The same is true for any living thing the genie grants, they're genie's, not gods, they can only replicate life, not create it. They can kill, they can turn the tides of war, change laws, even make people fall in love…."

"Wow, they are pretty powerful then. You said they can win wars; is there any wars you know of that was won by a genie?"

"Ganghas Khan was rumored to have used a genie, but it was never confirmed."

"That's wild!" She paused, tapping an index finger to her lip, thinking of more questions. "So what about cursed genies?"

"Genie's normally get curses put on them by someone trying to get more wishes granted. But it never works out the way the lamp owner thinks. Like I said genie's are fickle creatures."

"So it seems to me the best thing to wish for would be, very specific simple things like, 'I wish I was 10lbs skinner' or 'I wish my student debt was paid off'."

"For someone like you and me, yes, that'd be the best option."

"So how does one defeat a genie?"

"No clue."

"What!? You mean you took this job and don't have a plan!?"

"Relax. I never have a plan." I say, kicking my feet up on the dashboard. "It's worked out for me so far."

"What do you mean you never have a plan!? You can't possibly just wing everything in life." I finally dug the stupid piece of meat out from between my teeth. Examining it on the edge of the tooth pick.

"Lead me to you didn't it?" Ah I shouldn't have said it. The air between us got all awkward and stiff again. I'd already proved we'd never work out, but I just can't help it. I'm a charming guy, what can I say? She changed the subject.

"Natsu, what where your parents like?" She asked out of the blue after long away stint of silence. Shit. I took my time answering.

"I never knew my mom, she died giving birth to me. Apparently she was a fire maker magic user. My dad well, he raised me until I was eight, then one day he left and never came back. To this day I still don't know what happened to him." There. That sounded normal, right?

"That's horrible! I'm so sorry you had to go through that. That must have been difficult."

"Yeah, I mean I was found by Makarov, my mom's former guild master. He took me in, and I've been in Fairy Tail ever since."

"You've been in a guild since you were eight!?" She said incredulously.

"Not exactly. I still went to school and stuff, and I wasn't technically a member until I graduated High School. But I would follow my mentor, Gildarts, on some of his milder jobs sometimes."

"So you've been with Fairy Tail a long time. This Laxus's guy must be a real asshole if he made you leave."

"Yeah. He is. Most missions are carried out by a group of wizards. We find our friends within the guild whom we work better with, but Laxus. Laxus works alone 100% of the time. Laxu's parents died in a guild war between Fairy Tail and the Oracion Sies, and so Laxus and I where kind of raised like brothers. He never acted like a brother though, he was always resentful that Makarov took me in."

"Sheesh he does sound like an entitled prick."

"Pretty much. Makarov chose Laxus to be his successor, I challenged Laxus and I lost. After that, Makarov kicked me out for challenging his decision in the first place."

"Why did you challenge him? Do you think Makarov should've appointed you?" I laughed.

"Ha! No way! I'm not responsible enough for that shit! No, but I just felt like there was someone else more deserving. Like I said Laxus works alone, not exactly leadership material. It's not like he's encouraging or diplomatic. Makarov only appointed him because Laxus is his grandson. That's not how guilds are is supposed to operate. Guilds aren't exactly a democracy, but they're not supposed be a monarchy!"

For the rest of the drive we chatted, listened to some music, argued, ate some fast food, then argued some more. At some point we switched and I drove. Predictably as soon as I got behind the wheel Lucy passed the fuck out. Traitorous bitch. I had to stay awake, while there she was all curled up in the passenger seat sleeping like baby. Finally, I made it to our hotel sometime in the night, it was a cheap hotel, a Best Western or Holiday Inn. Something like that. Lucy had booked us one of those rooms with two beds. A part of me was disappointed, but it was probably for the best. Less temptation. When we got there Lucy didn't say a word and took claim of the bathroom for over an hour, which was starting to piss me off. I had to spring a leak, plus I wanted a shower before bed as well. A small eternity later she emerged in a puff of steam. She was combing through her wet hair, wearing a white lace camisole that clung to her still damp body. No bra. No pants. Only black cotton Calvin Klein undies. I couldn't tell if I love or hated my life. What fresh hell was this! She just walked over, sat on her bed, grabbed the remote and changed the channel, like she wasn't tempting fate.

"Hey! I was watching that!" I exclaimed.

"Not anymore." She said in an easy sing song voice, sitting crisscross applesauce on her bed, detangling her hair.

"Whatever. I'm getting a shower."

After my shower I walked out of the bathroom, dressed and towel drying my damp hair to find Lucy bent over the dresser, struggling to plug her phone charger into the outlet. For some reason that just grinded my gears, I can't really explain why other than a kind of sexual frustration. I slid a hand over my face. She was till pretending to oblivious, it was going to get obnoxious. Especially because I couldn't do anything about it without hurting her.

"Ugh, must you always dress like such a whore." Her spine snapped up straight so fast.

"What the fuck did you just call me!?" She said instantly enraged.

"You're always dressing for attention, tits up, ass out everywhere you go, eh Lucy!" She was holding her breath, scrunching her nose up, bursting to reply with something witty.

"That's what I have to wear for work! You know a job! Where I can afford things like hotel rooms, gas and food! I'm sorry Natsu, I don't remember asking you for approval on what I do!"

"You're not working now. Prancing about in no bra or pants." I said calmly, she'd gotten me so fired up. I mean a guy can only take so much. It was different before. Now my balls where bluer than the ocean and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. I wasn't really mad at her; I was mad at this situation I had put myself in.

WHAMP!

Lucy slapped my face with all the strength she could muster. I mean she really let me have it.

"Fuck you!" I said, holding my stinging cheek.

"Apparently you want to!" She snapped.

"You wish!" Good one Natsu. What am I? 5?

"And for your information the reason I'm not wearing a bra is because it kind of hurts right now to wear one!" She lifted up her shirt showing me her bandages. "And I never wear pants to sleep! Look! You're in just underwear!" She stomped off to the bathroom and slammed the door. Oh Jesus I'm an ass. I didn't even think of that. Instantly I melted into a sorry puddle. For once I didn't have a comeback.

"Ah, shit Lucy. I…. I'm an ass. I'm sorry." I say through the bathroom door. "I…I didn't even think of your bandages and I should've."

Sobs.

Earlier I had been a bit smug that Sting was in the doghouse back at the party. Now I was. I didn't know what to say. Like I said, I'm not so great at being comforting even when I want to be. "Lucy, come on out… Please?" I knock softly.

More sobs.

"Listen, I'm sorry I said those things. I didn't really mean them, it's just that I want you so badly and I'm frustrated that I can't have you. Come on Lucy… open up." She quickly swung open the door. Tears and snot running down her face, her conjunctiva all red.

"Why can't you have me!? What!? Because you think I'm too weak to handle it!?" She cried, struggling to get her point across through her hiccupping sobs. I didn't know how to take that. Is that how she saw it? That she was weak, rather then that I was a monster?

"What? No Lucy I don't think you're too weak."

"So it's the, 'it's not you it's me' line?" She quipped, her crying ebbing away.

"But it really is!"

"As if!"

"No really! Most wizards, yourself included, they… they have to focus on how to use their magic. Me. I have to focus on NOT using it! Every second of everyday!"

"What does that even mean!?" She howled, whipping the fluids away from her face.

"Lucy….I'm a. Lucy I'm a dragonslayer." I paused, knowing that that would make no sense to her. Sting was a dragonslayer too, but he was different. Sting's 3rd generation, his dragons blood is more diluted, more man than beast. "I'm. 1st. Generation. Dragonslayer." I finished, throwing that out there. Hoping she didn't suddenly freak out in fear, I wouldn't blame her if she did. I scare myself all the time. Her bandages just an example.

Lucy froze, her eyebrows in her hairline, eyes wide, comprehension dawning across her face. "But that's… that's impossible. I thought all the dragons died during WWII."

"Except for one. My father, Igneel, he was being kept secret in a cave in the Grand Canyon." I watched her as the meaning of all this sink in. Somehow, remarkably she seemed to calm, like it all made sense.

"You're the last real dragonslayer." She whispered more to herself than to me.

"I mean... when you put it like that!" I say, wiggling my eyebrows trying to lighten the mood.

"I can't believe this. This is crazy! But I mean it makes sense, that night. The hot tub. Your arm."

"Heh, yeah." I said a little embarrassed. I always get embarrassed when my dragon side slips out. It makes me feel…. not human. "You see Lucy, it's really not you. I think you're great, I mean I wouldn't have asked you to come if I didn't see any potential in ya." That seemed to be cheering her up a bit. I mean she was still in shock, but she stopped crying at least.

"Can I… can I see?" She asks, a little embarrassed, I couldn't tell if she was blushing or not because her face was already all red.

"What! No! Plus, it's not like something I can do on command, it sort of slips out sometimes."

"Fascinating. So that's what Sting meant when he said 'he's not _what_ you think he is.'" Okay now I was starting to get embarrassed. Wait what did she just say?

Like she was in a trance, Lucy floated over to the bed, her eye's still wide open and laid down gingerly on the bed, soaking in what my little secret and what it meant.

"When did you talk to Sting?" A wave of jealousy crashing over me in a way I couldn't contain. The human side of me knew it was not the socially appropriate response, but the dragon side could care less about human social norms. She snapped out of her trance realizing she had let something slip.

"Oh, Uh….. right before you called." She added hesitantly. Fire rose like a furnace in me, I tried to damp it in light of our recent argument. It was hard though, like the hot tub I was starting to boil over.

"So what did he have to say?" I questioned, on alert now. She was hiding something, I could tell.

"Oh…. Nothing really." She side stepped. "Except that….." and she spilled all tea she had learned. My pride didn't really like that she had asked Sting for help as well. I was doing a right fine job of getting her keys back so far, what did we need his help for.

"Is that all?" I asked, sheesh what a was I? Her father? Why was I feeling this way?

"I mean…. Not exactly. I gave him back a bracelet he got me….."

"YOU MET HIM IN PERSON!" I shouted, flames igniting up my arms.

"I mean, yeah." Lucy replied, unfazed. "We had a lot to talk about."

"Lucy! You stupid Idiot! He threw you through a balcony AND YOU MEET HIM IN PERSON! ALONE!" Heat rose from my core, fueling energy all the way to my fingertips. I didn't care that I was sounding like jealous freak. Maybe I was. Lucy is so naïve, so stupid sometimes!

Lucy was turning red again. Bitterness shrouded her voice. "I'm not stupid! I met him in a busy coffee shop!"

"You still should have told me you were going to meet him! Coffee shop my ass! Sting could have blown up the whole place if he wanted!"

"Sting's not like that!"

"Oh so you're defending him now!? What did you guys get back together or something!?"

"WHAT DO YOU CARE!?" She shouted back, throwing her arms out. "What? I need 'permission' now to go do things on my own!"

"So you almost fuck me, and then not 48 hours later are making plans to meet back up with Sting!?"

"TO GET MY KEYS BACK NATSU!"

"WHAT DO YOU THINK I'M TRYING TO DO!?" Rage filled my veins, flames started to engulf my whole body. I couldn't think straight, my mind all bogged up with fire. What was she thinking!? Sting could have cut her in half and have no remorse for what he'd done. He was known for being ruthless, for taking on any job presented to him, so long as the reward was a small fortune. What was Lucy doing with a guy like that in the first place. Had she at least told me I could have stood outside or something so that he didn't do anything stupid. But no. She trusted him in a kind of way that she didn't trust me.

With my left hand I swatted at the dresser in the front of the room, it came crashing to the floor, the cheap particle board splintering on impact. The TV perched on top of it also hit the floor, crumping in a pile of wires and plastic. I was so mad. I wanted to tear the whole room apart, tear up the mattresses in two, rip the sink from the wall, burn off the wall paper, but I stopped at the dresser. Lucy gasped, she took a step backwards, anger being replaced by fear as she looked at me. I looked down at myself, my left arm was elongating, sparkling red scales where beginning to emerge from my skin, my nails starting to curl into claws. By her face I knew that I had gone too far. Again. I took a deep breath, and as calmly as I could muster said.

"I'm going for a walk."

I strolled around the quiet streets of Denver for a while, the walk was uneventful. The fresh air cooling my temper. Okay, so I over reacted. Lucy going behind my back to meet up with Sting really hit me like a ton of bricks, though. Maybe it wasn't exactly behind my back, but I still felt betrayed somehow. Didn't the fact that she was concealing it mean that she knew it was deceitful. I guess I could admit from a rational standpoint it made sense. Finding out that Sting was in Sabertooth all this time, it was only natural she would want to question him about it. Why didn't she just explain it to me like that in the first place!? Lord, tonight has been one emotional rollercoaster.

An hour later my fire was only an ember. As the heat left my body it was replaced by cool guilt. Guilt for all the things I had said to her. I can't just keep apologizing forever. My 'sorry''s where becoming stale. I had branded her, called her a whore and an idiot, scared her by breaking furniture. All I had to say for it was 'sorry'? Man I'm pathetic. All the girl wanted was her keys back, a goal that seemed farther and farther away the more we learned about it. We were unraveling something much bigger than ourselves, her keys only a small piece of the puzzle. Maybe this was why she preferred Sting, maybe he was better at apologizing. Maybe he was smooth, and bought her presents and took her out to dinner. All things beyond my reach. What was I supposed to do? I had no money to buy her a gift, nothing I could do immediately as a peace offering. I really was a royal prick. I finally came back to our hotel room, terrified it would be empty. It wasn't. She was curled up on her bed, comforter pulled up to her chin, sleeping soft as a kitten.

When Natsu left I had half a mind to get up, get in the car and drive 16 hours all the way home, leaving him stranded in Denver. I really debated with myself for a good long while. For all the shit he put me through today, he deserved worse. He was right though; I did deceive him. The part of me that didn't want to tell Natsu about my meeting with Sting, was the same part that knew he'd be mad. I didn't think he would turn into a LITERAL dragon and break furniture mad. And what? I was supposed to believe Natsu was actually half dragon? D-R-A-G-O-N! Half giant, flying lizard that can breathe fire. If I hadn't of seen it, I wouldn't have believed it. This was all crazy. Ultimately I decided to stay, partially because I was at least half responsible for the way things have turned out between us. Mostly though, because Aquarius and Horologium are in the hands of god knows who. I had to get them back, not just for my sake, but for theirs. If having to get along with Natsu means I get my keys back faster, then by golly I'm going to try. And who better to team up with than an actual dragonslayer?

The next morning, I woke up before Natsu, without saying anything to him, I tip-toed into the bathroom and began my morning routine. Exfoliate, moisturize, prime, foundation, powder, contour, finishing spray in that order. A lot, I know. I tried to minimize noise as much as possible, though I'm afraid I dropped my curling iron in the sink at one point. The next step was deciding what to wear. What does one wear to take on a cursed genie? I found it hard to believe guild members did all their fighting in Gucci. I decided on jeans, because they'd give me a bit more protection then my Lululemon leggings, and a black long sleeve thermal, because I was afraid the polyester in the Under Armor would burn my skin if I got too close to Natsu. I swept my hair up into a high pony, holstered my whip, and took a good look in the bathroom mirror. This outfit was not cute, I was cringing at myself already for pairing tennis shoes with jeans, and the thermal looked frumpy. I hated how thrown together I was. I felt like guild members probably have these super, high tech suits, like super heroes, designed by Edna Mode or Tony Stark. Here I was in jeans and a pony tail. I didn't really feel ready, instead I felt self-conscious. I was about to do something so out of the realm of my own reality. My life was turning in papers on time, taking tests, going to frat parties, and shopping at the mall. I didn't fight demons and genies. I painted my nails and watched the Bachelor. My dad was so turned off by magic with my mother's death, he raised me to be, well, normal. But was I that girl? Was I normal? Or was I something else?

I walked out of the bathroom to find that Natsu had woken up. He had already helped himself to the continental breakfast. Figures. We didn't say anything, just stared at each other. Natsu froze mid bite, scrambled eggs falling off his fork. God, this was so awkward. I was trying to think of something to say to break the ice when he said.

"I brought back a bagel for you." Holding out a paper plate with a plain bagel, cream cheese and a plastic knife.

"Thank you." I said stiffly. There was another long silence. Well at least he didn't seem to be mad anymore. Part of me was deciding if I was still mad at him. I stared down at my bagel and started to say. "Natsu…. About last night, I'm…." He cut me off.

"Lucy, I can't keep apologizing to you. I feel like all I've said to you since I've arrived is 'I'm sorry' and it's not fair. I'm not good at things like this, I don't do grand gestures, I have no money to buy you presents, I have nothing to offer you but my help. You quite literally, took me in off the street, housed me, fed me, clothed me. Hell, you even treated me when I was wounded. And all I've done is hurt you." Why did it feel like he was breaking up with me?

"That's not true! We've learned a lot; we've made it this far haven't we? As long as each step we take brings us closer to our goal, we have to keep moving forward. I'll do anything to get my keys back Natsu, but I can't do it without your help." He nodded stiffly. as if he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Was I really that hard to get along with? Am I really that much of pain? What was he trying to say? And what was that bit about presents? Since when did I ever ask him for anything? "Listen Natsu, about Sting. You're right. I should have told you, especially because of all the new information I discovered."

"No, Lucy. I. I over reacted. Truthfully, I don't know what came over me. It doesn't matter what your relationship to Sting is, and I shouldn't have presumed I had a say. Anyways Lucy, we better get going, we're late."

"Late! What do you mean we're late!?"

"Mrs. Hudson was expecting to meet us at 8:30."

Mrs. Hudson was a sweet old lady, somewhere in her mid 70's. She was classic old lady style, all cardigans, and flowers. She still wore her wedding ring, which was gigantic by the way. We met in the lobby of her hotel, which, let me tell ya was a lot nicer than ours.

"Oh I'm so glad you came!" She said smiling, embracing us in a hug even though we just met her. "I was beginning to get worried you wouldn't."

"I apologize for the wait Mrs. Hudson, but we're here now." I said, feeling guilty we made the poor women wait for 40 minuets in the lobby. Natsu wasted for no time for casualties.

"So, tell us more about what happened."

"Oh, do sit down." Mrs. Hudson gestured to the plush looking couch across from the chair she had been waiting in. We did. "Hmmm, well let's see know." She began. "My William passed on about two years ago now." I could already tell that Natsu was going to rudely interrupt. We could both tell that this woman was a story teller, and Natsu had his mouth open to speak. I stepped on his foot. "Pancreatic cancer, you know. Stage 4 and at his age there was no coming back from that."

"I'm sorry for your loss." I say courteously, egging the story on.

"Thank you dear. Now ever since William has been gone, my life has been painfully empty. I live in a great big house filled with a great many things, but I'm quite lonely. I'm in a sewing circle once a week, quilts you know, always been a little hobby of mine. Well one of the members of my sewing circle, Ellen, she was telling me about this magic shop down on the back side of town. She was bragging about having bought a love potion that she slipped to her gardener's lemonade, and how they have great sex all the time now." Both mine and Natsu's eyes where wide with horror at this story already. Old women can be a little too straightforward sometimes. It's like they just say outload whatever floats into their minds. We kept quiet, stifling our nervous laughter. Mrs. Hudson didn't skip a beat, she plowed on. "Well so I thought I would have a little look at this shop myself. So I had my driver drop me off. Oh the shop was quite derelict, loose floor boards and a decade's worth of dust. Not really what I pictured a magic shop to be." She chuckled to herself. "I had never been in a magic shop before, my grandfather, Ashley, was a rebel you know." A fact that she seemed rather proud of. Among some people there's still a bit of prejudice against magic users, a fad that's becoming less popular as people are wanting magic solutions to their problems. Mrs. Hudson being a classic example. "But the shop did have some of the most marvelous things! Potions for rheumatism, a self-replenishing tea pot, all sorts of splendid things! What I set my sights on however was the crown jewel of the whole store, a magical genie in a lamp. You know just like all the old stories. I thought to myself ' _now here's something that will really shut Ellen up'_. So I bought the lamp, the shop clerk told me to take it home, and give it a nice polish and the genie would just pop on out and grant me three wishes of whatever I desired! Sounded too good to be true, but maybe it could mean I would have my William back. Anyways, that's not how things panned out at all. I'm not sure if maybe I polished it wrong, or if the shop clerk sold me a defective lamp, but as soon as the genie emerged out of the bottle he started wreaking havoc all over my house! I told him to leave but he refused! And then he started manifesting these, these, abominations! I knew I had to get out of there for my own safety, but my grandchildren are coming for their yearly visit next week and I would like my house back so we can all stay under one roof. Wouldn't that be lovely? Anyways I didn't want to hire a guild, too untrustworthy in my opinion! I don't believe in all this political nonsense they seemed to get tangled up in. Besides, it's only a little genie, I thought for sure this is a problem that can be solved by one or two wizards. How hard can it be putting a genie back in the bottle?"

The ad I found online had read _Genie Extermination: Old Lady's House._ When we rolled up to Mrs. Hudson's 'house', we about shit ourselves. This was no house; this was an estate. We started to get suspicious with the long, winding, gravel driveway, willow tree's lining either side of the road. Some of the longer branches dragged over the roof of Lucy's car, like a kind pollenating carwash. Eventually we pulled up to the house, it was like one of those old plantation homes, except instead of being located below the Mason-Dickson line, we were in the middle of nowhere Colorado. There was one of those circle driveways with a naked angel fountain in the center. We both got out of the car like Sam Neill when he saw a real life brontosaurus for the first time. We didn't speak, we were in awe that a place like this existed out here. Our reward was going to be awesome! "Lucy, I think we've hit the jackpot." I said.

"You're tellin' me!" She said. The house had two stories with decks stretched around both levels. The railings where a wrought iron, fashioned in some kind of French way. The house's enormous windows where framed with black shutters and a large red brick chimney piped out from the roof. "It seems quiet on the outside." Commented Lucy.

"Never judge a book by its cover." I say, approaching the house cautiously. As we reach the porch I grab Lucy's arm, stopping her before she opened the front door. "Lucy, listen to me. If shit goes down in there and I tell you to get lost, you need to get lost. Got it? Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." She just looked at me with a blank stare, tore her arm from my grasp and started to head back for the door. "LUCY!" I say sternly, grabbing her chin, forcing her to face me and listen. "If I tell you to go, I need you to go! Promise?" She looked up at me for a second, her eyes narrowed.

"Yeah, yeah I got it Natsu." She waved it off casually. Before I could do anything else, she turned away from me and opened the front door. Through the front door was like portal into another world. There where elements that must be part of the original house, but there were also large piles of desert sand all over the place, Persian rugs and Egyptian lanterns were everywhere you looked. There was a strong smell on incense about the whole place. Semi-domestic cats prowled around every corner, Lucy almost stopped to pet one before I shot her look. I don't know what I was thinking bringing Lucy to this job. I mean, I wanted to help the girl realize her potential, her magic was so underdeveloped it was like that of a child's. She was clearly eager to learn more about this walk of life; it was the life her mother led after all. I was willing to teach her, show her how the magical world operates, hone her abilities. Who better than me? It's all I've ever known. Sometimes though, I question my own intentions. Was I doing this for the right reasons? A genie is definitely a more advanced mission. I was resigned to do most of the fighting, Lucy would be more of an assist than a play maker, but still I was putting her in harm's way.

Lucy tripped and toppled over a tower of golden goblets and plates, making a painfully load clattering sound that echoed off the walls as they scattered across the floor. I spun around to hush her, but it was too late. The entire place started to rumble and I had to catch myself on an end table to stay balanced. An all-consuming deep voice broadcasted as though through a loud speaker.

"WHO DARES TO STEAL MY TREASURE!"

A lilac genie materialized out of the floor in front of Lucy. Its current form was slightly larger than the average man, it floated above the ground on the typical snake like genie tail. The genie had a full thick, black beard that tapered and curled at the end. He was a well-built genie, huge traps and biceps, a man-pregnant belly, gold cuffs on his wrists…. And then I saw it. The curse. I silently prayed that it was that easily discovered. The curse was a thick golden choker with a large black jewel in the center of it. I could tell that this was the source of the curse, like a lake bleeding into streams, black veins were transparent underneath the genie's skin, all of them rooted at the base of the choker. Like I told Lucy before, every genie is different. My mind started racing with thing's I've already learned about this one. This genie was greedy and a collector, it was evident by the treasures scattered around the house, that and he got mad at Lucy for even touching it. Most of the treasure's themselves where one of a kind, I swear I saw Leonardo Di Vinci's _Savior of the_ World, in this pile and a Faberge egg in another. Who knows what kind of forgotten treasures this genie has collected over hundreds of years. Whoever gave him that cursed choker, it was a pretty dirty trick. Whomever it was must have had it out for this genie.

"I'm sorry Sr. I didn't mean… I just tripped." Lucy started to apologize, as if reasoning with it was going to work.

"YOUR PLEADING IS FUTILE YOUNG WENCH!" Boomed the genie. "HOW DARE YOU TRIFFLE UPON THE GREAT KAZAAM! THE GENIE OF AGRABAH!" Lucy flinched, seeming to lose her confidence. The genie picked up a handful of sand, from one of the nearby piles. He closed the sand in his fist, and blew out a cloud of purple dust that materialized into a pack of jackals. They enclosed on Lucy, snarling, snapping their teeth, folding back their large ears. That was it!? That's all this genie got!? Lucy unleashed her celestial whip, the thing coming to life under her touch. It glowed a blue-green, that swirled and changing colors as she moved it. She cracked her whip in front of her, fending off the jackals. They avoided her cracks, but the jackals did seem to be hesitant. Seeing as Lucy pretty much had the dogs covered, I decided it was time for me to be tapped in. I summoned my katana, Igneel's Fury. I had been ignored by the genie up until now, but the summoning of my katana seemed to catch his attention. He seemed to be amused by the Lucy Vs. Jackal's game that was going on. Before the Genie could makeshift any more distractions, I threw my Katana as hard as I could, aimed at the jewel on Kazaam's throat. The genie clapped my blade with his bare hands, centimeters from its target. The force of my throw sent Kazaam backwards several feet, and he used a purple light to stop the trajectory of the blade. At the very least, it pulled his attention away from Lucy. I let my fists ignite and without a second to spare I advanced, sending fireball after fireball at him in rapid succession. Kazaam had to drop my katana in order to fend off the fireballs. He used his golden cuffs like a shield. The genie was retreating, without skipping a beat I threw my last fireball at him and sucked in a deep breath. I opened my mouth again and blew out a huge column of blazing hot flames, making all the surrounding sand turn to glass. Lucy threw her arm up to shield her face from the intensity. The blast hit Kazaam full force, and he toppled over in a burnt mound. At the same time the Jackal's Lucy had been dealing with disappeared in a haze of purple smoke. For a moment I thought I had finished him, thinking that it was too easy. As I looked, Kazaam was vibrating, then he started chuckling, until he roared out in laughter.

"BAHAHA! It's been a long time since I've seen dragon fire! Tell me boy, where did you learn to do that little trick?!" I took an athletic stance, preparing myself for whatever was about to happen next. To Lucy's credit she did as well. "But I'm afraid it won't be enough!"

The genie tossed his hands around like he was making pizza dough, just instead of pizza dough he was creating a purple tornado that grew bigger, and bigger, the more he spun it around. The tornado started gathering enough wind to suck up things around it, the golden goblets that Lucy had spilt, the shards of glass I had melted. Then the genie dropped the tornado and gave it a gentle push in our direction. However, there was nothing gentle about this tornado, it was sucking all kinds of smaller objects as it came close to us, turning into a purple, spiraling death trap filled with shards of glass. As it was about to come for us, I did the only thing I could think of, I sent out a blast of fire from the palms of my hands, slowing the tornado's advance. As I watched the tornado, I noticed it had sucked up my katana. Eager to get it back I sacrificed one of my arms, still holding off the tornado with the flames on my other hand, to reach in and grab my katana the next time it came around. The strategy worked, but it cost me a couple nasty cuts from the glass shards. With my sword arm I cut the tornado in half, to be quiet honest I didn't even know that it would work, but it did. The tornado vanished, leaving a circular pile of treasure and broken glass.

The genie's next wave of attack was to pull out a handful gold coins, from a pouch around his waist, he scattered them onto floor. The coins started to rattle on the floor and rise up from the ground. Shirtless men where then dumped out of each coin, manifesting from the coins themselves. These men where all some kind of middle-eastern descent, with dark hair and muscular bodies, each brandishing a different style of curved blade. It was some kind of mystical army. I was trying to count how many, forty? They were advancing on us, with toothy gins and chuckling at some inside joke we were left out of. It's a good thing I grabbed my katana! The first one descended on me, the second on Lucy. As the man held up his sword with both hands over his head, presumably to slice me down the middle, I cut through his abdomen like a hot knife through butter. Before I knew it, a second man descended. I used my fire to heat up my blade red hot, and stabbed him through the chest. Blood was now dripping off my sword and hands, dragon forged blades don't change shape, no matter how hot they get. The defeated men, rather than lay there in agony, puffed away in a purple mist, just like a video game. I glanced over to check on Lucy, worried because she'd never been in hand-to-hand combat before. She was still sparing with her first enemy. He was swinging at her pretty good, but she had wrapped the other end of her whip around her arm and was using it to block his blows. Smart trick. The celestial whip could never be cut or destroyed. The problem was it left her nothing to attack with. She was constantly on the defense. Behind her a second enemy was approaching her, his arms raised over his head. I would never make it over there in time. My stomach had this strange cold feeling and I acted on instinct. Just like I had done earlier with the genie, I threw the katana and shish kabab'd the man's head, skewering two other men with sheer force of it. The violence had splattered blood all down Lucy's back. By the time the defeated men puffed away, I had made it to Lucy. Her breath's where short and nervous, while her feet and arms worked quickly. She'd only managed to defeat one foe and was working on her second. I plucked my sword up from the ground, whipping the blood off on my shirt, I hatched an idea.

"Lucy! Jump!" I commanded, as I shot out a ring of fire out around us, close to the ground so that Lucy could jump over it like a jump rope. The ring of fire pulsed through the armed men, cutting them off at their shins. Blood squirted out of their legs, now stubs, their feet separate from their bodies. As their bodies disappeared, their puddles of blood remained.

"HAHAHA!" The genie laughed, startling us both. "You really are something aren't you!"

"Lucy, it's the necklace." I said quickly, so that we were both on the same page of what had to happen. "The jewel! That's where the curse is!"

"What!? How do you know!?"

Before I could answer, the genie plucked one of his beard hairs, tied it in a bow and blew it on our direction. The hair turned into a beast that emerged tail end first. It was a dark bay, stallion centaur, wearing a face masked metal helmet, wielding a two handed sword. It swung its enormous sword at Lucy, who caught it midair by lassoing it, pulling it out of the centaur's hands. A whip and a horse _? Lucy's got this!_ I thought. So far I was proud of her, she naturally plays a good defense.

At this point I decided the fight had gone on long enough, it was time to focus my efforts back to Kazaam himself. Raising my arms, setting them ablaze again, I flapped like my arms where wings, gearing up for my next attack. Kazaam seemed to be gearing up for his next attack as well. I spun around, arms extended, letting heat and energy radiate off me in waves. My "wing" attacked slammed into the genie before he could finish whatever it was he was about to do. Not wanting to waste time, I paired that attack with more fireballs. I was gearing up to hit Kazaam with another wing attack, but he hastily clinked gold cuffs together. This caused a small collection of expensive looking knives to appear, the knives spun around in a circle for a moment, before firing towards me like bullets. Unfortunately, I was already in the middle of my fire wing attack, so I missed the opportunity to block. A dozen knifes whizzed passed me, some catching me, leaving deep cuts along the sides my body, one imbedding into my thigh. I grunted in pain and fell to my knees.

"NATSU!" Shrieked Lucy. Mid spar she tried to race over to me, but the centaur wrapped a wrist around her hair and pulled her by her pony tail. She cried out in agony and flailed about in wild panic. In her pain she'd lost grip of her whip, it fell and lay useless on the ground.

"Bring her here Chiron." Ordered Kazaam as he was recovering from my last attack. The centaur drug her across the floor by her hair, without her keys or whip, Lucy was completely defenseless. She kicked out screaming, her arms trying to hold onto the centaur's forearm in an attempt to lessen then tension. I was still kneeling, breathing heavy, in my own pain. An ice cold sensation spread through my veins, it started down my spine and then trickled down my limps to my fingers and toes. What was this feeling? All the sudden I couldn't feel the knife in my legs, I couldn't feel all the cuts along my body. I pulled the knife out of my leg, immediately causing the wound to seep blood, soaking my borrowed jeans. Using fire to guide my aim, I threw Kazaam's knife at the centaur, right as he was about to hand Lucy over to Kazaam. The knife sank in the centaur's flank and he whinnied in pain, letting go of Lucy's hair and prancing about like a spooked horse. His heavy footfalls where not careful, he managed to step on Lucy, who was now a heap on the ground. My newfound icy numbness fueled my actions, my feet and legs ignited on fire and I raced over to her.

"Lucy!" I roared. As I reached her body, I rolled her over so that I could see her face. I should have been paid better attention. She had a black eye, a split lip and blood was caked in her hair from some hidden injury. Her clothes where all tattered, none of her cuts where bleeding badly, but every rip in her clothing signified a close call. "Lucy! Lucy!" I say panic evident in my voice, I started to pick her up, cradling her head gingerly. "Lucy! Can you stand!?" She seemed dazed but she nodded. I helped her to her feet, my hands hovering over her in case she fell. She swayed a little, but stayed upright. "Lucy, listen to me. I need you to leave, okay?" She didn't seem to hear me. "Lucy!" She shook her head. "Lucy! Get out of here now!" I commanded pointed towards the exist. She seemed to pull from an inner pool of strength I didn't know she had. All the sudden she snapped her spine up straight, spread her feet shoulder width apart, and narrowed her eyes.

"I'm not going anywhere Natsu." She stated stubbornly.

"Lucy! Don't be Stu-…" I was distracted by the centaur galloping full force right at me, sword held out like in a joust. I held myself steady and swerved out of the way at the last second. I grabbed the centaur's arms, overpowering his strength and making him slice open his own side wide open. Blood poured out of the long wound like hot fudge on a sundae. The centaur squealed in pain and flopped over, none too gracefully on his opposite side. During my distraction with the centaur, Lucy had tried to go for her whip, but was stopped by the genie. The cold water in my veins turned to pure ice as Kazaam whipped out his serpent-like tail and scooped Lucy up around her waist. He then picked her up by her neck, squashing her blood curdling screams. The genie smiled perversely behind his beard.

"Haha! What a feisty wench you are. Maybe when I'm through with you, I shall add you to my collection!" The genie held up his left hand, twinkling his fingers, show casing bejeweled golden rings which likely held other poor women. I was frozen solid. A statue. I didn't know what to do. If I attacked I would hurt Lucy, if I didn't attack Kazaam would hurt Lucy. It was a lose, lose situation. Some sense must have snapped in Lucy, because she stopped trying to free herself, instead she started clawing at the choker around Kazaam's neck. He realized what she was trying to do, and with his free hand he shot a beam of lilac light and energy at her, sending her shooting across the room, slamming hard into the brick fireplace behind my shoulder that started to crumble on impact. Like a rag doll Lucy fell to the floor. She didn't make a sound, she lay there, limp, and unmoving.

A fire burned up in me white hot, melting all the ice, it starting in my belly and exploded outwards. My mind became an atomic bomb. Red filtered over my vision, my right arm and leg had transformed in the blink of an eye to a dragon's arm and leg. The skin on the right side of my body was covered with sparking red scales, and my muscles felt tight and swollen. I felt horny material sprout out of my head and along my spine. I felt my lips struggled to cover my teeth. I'm not sure how I looked, I'd never transformed this far before. What I can say is, for was the first time of the whole ordeal Kazaam looked frightened.

"Im…impossible." He stuttered. "Dragons are extinct! This… this can't be happening. This must be some kind of trick!"

I didn't dignify that with a response. I don't know how but I flew at him, I choke slammed him into the ground, causing us to fall through the buildings foundations and into the dirt below. He couldn't escape my dragon claw's vice grip, despite his efforts. Magic doesn't work on dragons, and right now that's what I was. My stifle pinned him into the dirt, I used my human hand to crush the necklace off Kazaam. The metal disintegrated under my touch and the black jewel fell, disappearing somewhere in the dirt. Underneath my grasp, Kazaam started shrinking, smaller and smaller, until I was holding an ornate, brass, oil lamp. It was over, we had won. We'd destroyed the house pretty much, but we did it. Then I remembered. Lucy.

With a firm grasp on the lamp I swam through the debris, back to Lucy, who was under a small pile of rubble. The corner of the fire place had fallen on her, she was covered in chalky dust and plaster. Hastily I dug her out, I lifted her head up and it lulled to the side limply. My stomach fell out of my body then, a vice grip suddenly enclosed my heart. Is this what fear felt like? I thought I'd felt fear before, a nervous feeling that tingles the bottom of your feet and makes your heart race. My heart right then, felt like it stopped. I picked her up in my arms, I felt relief when I saw her chest rise and fall, I could feel her heart beating through our contact. I carried her upstairs, princess style, to a spare bedroom that had escaped being transformed into something else. As carefully as my tense muscles would allow, I laid her out on the bed. I ripped what was left of her shirt off to check her for injuries. She was covered with shallow cuts from all the sword fighting she'd done. We really needed to work on her combat skills. She had some pretty nasty bruising developing around her throat, and a horseshoe print bruise on her hip, but no broken bones as far as I could tell. The most concerning thing to me was the gash on her head that had caused her hair to be all matted. I debated taking her to the hospital, what we had been doing wasn't exactly legal. Guild work is legal because the nature of a guild is to self-regulate. A single wizard working alone? That's a recipe for disaster on all fronts, and boy where we in a disaster. I found a nearby bathroom and got a warm wash cloth, I whipped at the wound on her head and found that it had already stopped bleeding. Head wounds bleed more than normal wounds, so initially it had looked worse than it really was. I used the wash cloth the dab the rest of the blood off her body. Her only real problem was her concussion, something that would only be fixed with time. I pulled a chair up to edge of the bed and waited.

As I waited my gazed kept drifting towards the lamp, the desire to rub it laying heavy on me. There were so many things I wanted answers to, and maybe this was my only short cut to get it. To be honest I had kind of been hoping for this kind of opportunity. It's not like I desired anything complicated, I had no use for riches, I didn't desire power and I never cared about the world enough to try and fix it. Taking a deep breath and severely hoping I wasn't about to regret this, I rubbed the lamp. Lilac smoke steamed out of the spout like a teapot. Out of the smoke materialized the genie. He looked different then he had 10 minuets ago. His skin was free of veins, his facial expressions softer, his eye's kind and intelligent.

"Aaahhh! How can I thank you enough? I've been under that wretched curse for 100 years! Being in control of my body again… well it's almost like being free!" I didn't know what to say to that. I guess I had never really thought of genie's at not being free, I guess I hadn't really given it much thought at all. Now that it was presented to me, I felt almost guilty for what I was about to asked for.

"Don't mention it." I say waving my arm like it was no big deal. Lucy moaned and started to stir, being roused by all our conversation. I'd better get this show on the road.

"As you have saved me from a horrible curse, and you've rubbed my lamp I shall grant you 3 wishes. Only 3 and no more!"

"Alright, alright, alright I know rules."

"Good. The what shall your first wish be?"

"I wish for you to turn this house back to how it was, before you came here." There'd be no prize money if we left the house in this condition, plus it would draw attention to us. Media attention is something I prefer to avoid at all costs. Like I said, I'm not driven by fame or money.

"Your wish, my command!" Said the genie in a drawling voice. A purple mist descended upon the entire house. When the mist lifted everything was neat and orderly, no sand, no incense, no piles of treasure. Instead the house smelled like fresh linens, and a crisp natural light filled the halls. "And your second wish Sr.?"

This. This is the moment I've been waiting 17 years for. This was my driving force, my reason for moving forward, and I was finally going to get my answers.

"I wish for you to show me where the Dragon Igneel is."

"Oh that's an easy one." The genie smiled and he pointed at something behind me. I spun around quickly to see what he was point at. It was just a cabinet full of china. Was this a joke? Was he literally pointing in the direction Igneel was? What was that North? Balls! It was my fault for phrasing the question stupidly. I should have asking him to tell me, not show me! Then again he still could have chosen to be vague. Man I was so frustrated! I was so close and now all I got was a vague answer. I still had one more chance. One more wish, maybe I would rephrase it in a way where he had to explain more. Or better yet, teleport me to him! Then I looked over at Lucy.

"My last wish." I start. "My last wish is for Lucy Heartfilia's celestial keys, Aquarius and Horologium to be returned to her."

"Aaaahh the sacrifices we make for love." Stated the genie sympathetically, his eyes twinkling. With a popping noise a small, embroidered, leather case appeared in thin air above the four poster bed Lucy was laying on. It sank down gracefully and clipped itself to Lucy's holster.

"Wha- I don't love…" but the genie was gone. Disappeared without a sound, I looked around. The lamp was gone. Huh. Strange. Lucy started to sit up then, her hand on her head. "Whoa, whoa, whoa careful there! Take it slow!" I say, rushing over to the bed.

"Oh god! I feel like I have the worst hangover of my life!" She said, ignoring me and sitting up anyways, holding onto her head.

"Hold on, I'll fetch you a glass of water." She nodded and I left to go fetch it. While I was down stairs, finally finding the kitchen I hear.

"NASTU! NASTU!" She shouted.

"What!? What is it!?" I shouted back, I started to race back to her, worried that something was wrong. I met her on the top of the stairs.

"My keys! My keys are back!" She exclaimed excitedly.

"I know. After I defeated the genie it granted me some wishes." I explained, shrugging. "So I wished for the house to be put back, or else we were never going to collect any prize money, and for you to have your keys back." She gave me one of those looks again.

Before I knew it she threw her arms over my shoulders and she was kissing me. My fingers reached out, lightly touching her abdomen before I stopped myself. Her lips where so soft, her kisses so honest, so good, so full of trust. At that moment I wanted nothing more in the world then to kiss her back, wrap her around my hips, and carry her back to the bedroom, where we could revel in our victory together. But I knew it could never be. Even if I was able to control myself enough for tonight, I knew if I started I would never be able to stop. I couldn't do that to her, my life style ultimately wasn't for Lucy, no matter how much she pretended like she could handle it, she couldn't. Although she was constantly exceeding my expectations, at the end of the day my life and hers where on two separate paths. Maybe if I was still in Fairy Tail, things would be different, but I was a rogue now, a lone wolf. That kind of lifestyle I was about to embark on was riddled with danger and uncertainty not to mention mostly illegal. That was no life for her. Lucy deserves a normal life, with a normal family, with normal kids in a normal house. She deserves and uncomplicated life, with a salary, and a husband willing to give her the world (so long as it wasn't Sting, that rat bastard). The return of her keys, also meant the end of our little arrangement. We'd go back and collect our reward money and then go our separate ways.

I indulged for a moment returning her kiss. I tried pouring back in to her everything I wasn't saying. She seemed to understand because he kisses went from being quick and excited, to being slow, drawn out and sad. Excruciatingly, I pulled away, and I let her go.


	7. Chapter 8

Chapter 7

The Stars are Blind

It had been over 2 months since I've heard hide nor hair from Natsu. After we collected our exuberant prize money, from a VERY grateful Mrs. Hudson. Natsu had explained that he had held up his end of the bargain by returned my keys to me, and that he was moving on. He mentioned something about not wanting to impede anymore on my hospitality. Stupidly, I bawled like a baby, even though I was ecstatic to get my keys back, it was bitter sweet because it meant Natsu was leaving. As much as I pretended like he was annoying, I was going to miss him living on my couch. I guess it had only ended up being two and a half weeks, but a lot had happened between us in that amount of time. As he turned to leave I asked him. "Is this the last time I'm going to see you?"

He had turned around and gave me a very Natsu-like smirk and said. "Of course not, we're friends aren't we?" And that was the last I've heard from him.

Despite his statement about us being 'friends' I haven't heard from him. No texts, no calls, no emails, not even a like on Instagram. I tried texting him a couple of times, eventually I stopped because I felt stupid that he never replied. Did he mean that? Were we friends? What did friendship mean to Natsu? Because to me, it certainly didn't mean ignoring texts, and going without any form of communication for months.

My dad came back from Dubai, a day after my solo return from Colorado. Miraculously he's none the wiser to everything that went on in his absence. He questioned why there seemed to be no food in the house, I blamed Levi, and I think he's starting to catch on to some of his missing articles of clothing, but he hasn't mentioned anything about it yet. Dads can be so oblivious sometimes.

Anyways, as they say, life moves on. School started back up again and I moved back into the dorm room I share with Levi. Eventually I caved, and spilled the beans about the whole ordeal to her. I felt like I was going to go crazy, and she was my best option for an outlet. Levi seemed to take it rather well, pretty fascinated actually. Levi doesn't have any magic, but she's always been real interested in it and how it works. She was only kind of mad that I hadn't filled her in while it was happening.

Sting was also trying to butt back into my life again. He creeped on my course schedule, and showed up at my dorm with all my required textbooks for the semester…. Which was actually, really sweet of him. Sting was really keen on jumping back into a relationship, I explained to him that I just wasn't ready yet. Maybe that was wrong of me. I was so depressed and confused after Natsu left. Sometimes I felt consumed with worry, what was he doing now? Was Natsu all right? Was he hurt? Was he hungry? Did he find a new job that was taking up a lot of his time and that's why he's not replying? With Natsu gone, things weren't black and white anymore. Sting was a grey area, he never did anything completely unforgiveable, and he was giving it maximum effort. Perhaps my biggest driving force behind giving Sting the time of the day was because, before Natsu, I would've taken him back already. Now with Natsu gone, I don't know, I didn't know who I was anymore. I wasn't the same girl I had been before. I just didn't have either the mental, or physical capacity for a relationship right now.

I was sitting on my bed, in my dorm room, writing a paper for my ethic's professor, when Levi came in. She was breathing a little heavy from all the books in her backpack. We live on the third floor. Seriously, they should install an elevator. She had worn a paisley summer dress to class that had complimented her hair nicely.

"There's supposed to be a Victoria Secret party at the Cabana tonight!" Levi panted, still out of breath, letting her backpack swing to the floor. The cabana was a pretty famous spot around here, it was really just a hot tub with a swim up bar. It was always popping because celebrities have been spotted there on occasion.

"So? It's not like we have an invite, or we're on the list or anything." I say maybe a little snarkier than Levi deserved.

"Don't you get it!? Mirajane will probably be there!" She exclaimed excitedly. I finally followed.

"Brilliant! You are brilliant Levi!" I closed my laptop, sharing in her excitement. Mirajane was a known member of Fairy Tail, maybe I could squeeze some information about Natsu out of her.

"You say that like it's a surprise." Levi said all stale. "And we still have to figure out how we're going to get in…. Do you think Sting could…" Levi trailed off.

"Forget it. I'm not asking Sting." If Mirajane was going, it would likely there'd be other Fairy Tail members there, as well as members from other guilds, Sabertooth being one of them.

"Awe come on, you know he'd do it for you!"

"Yeah, but he'd want to come with, and it would defeat the whole purpose. Plus, I don't want to give him anymore hope, I'm already giving him too much attention as it is. Don't you have that friend… what's her name? Jenny?" Levi's best friend from high school. I only pretended not to know her name, I didn't care for Jenny very much. Not only did she act like she knew Levi best. She was also prettier than me, blonder than me, and better at magic than me. Girl world, you know.

"Fiiiine! I'll ask Jenny for an invite, I think she's going anyways, I saw her in a bikini try on haul on Instagram. You have to PROMISE me though that you'll play nice. You know Jenny doesn't hate you, she actually really..." Levi went on and on about how perfect her friend Jenny was, and how I should try better to get along with her. Whatever. If it meant I didn't have to go through Sting, I could swallow my pride. Just this once.

"Okay, Okay! If we're going to go, we've got to hurry!" I say

"Why? The party doesn't start until like 10:30pm, and it's definitely not cool to show up until at least 11:00pm!"

"Not to the party stupid! To the salon! You think my pale ass is going to a Victoria Secret party without a spray tan and these ratchet DIY nails!?" Realization dawned on Levi's face.

"Oh my god you're right!"

Four hours in the salon and two hours in our dorm getting ready later, we were stepping out of Jenny's BMW, and walking right up to the V.I.P line. I was wearing a trendy, navy blue, velvet, bikini top that made my boobs look great, and high-low bottoms that where so cheeky it made me uncomfortable. Unfortunately, my spray tan accentuated my scars of Natsu's hands on my ribs. They'd healed up better than I expected. Maybe I had a little more magic in me then I thought. They looked years old, rather than a month old. When I was pale you could hardly tell, just slightly paler, crinkly, raised lines that you had to be staring at to even notice. The spray tan though, made them stand out like a sore thumb. Levi and I spent a good 45 min applying concealer to them, 1,000 layers later they've disappeared. I still wore a bedazzled piece of body jewelry in hopes that it would distract people to look at the shiny instead of focusing on my scars. Levi looked super cute as well, she chose a white bandeau top that was fashioned to look like a giant bow, great on her, something I could never pull off. Of course Jenny looked perfect with a red Baywatch-like one piece with a matching red flower in her hair. How could she possibly look hotter than me, when I was showing more skin?

The party was filled with supermodels, sports players, celebrities and guild members. EVERYBODY was at this party. Everyone from the star of the latest superhero movie, to late night hosts, to, oh my god is that Seth Rogan!? This was the kind of party you hear about for weeks after the event happened. Now this wasn't my first rodeo, I had been to these parties before as Sting's eye candy, but never on my own as a single lady.

In typical girl triangle formation, with Jenny at the front, we made our way over to the bar. I ordered a gin and tonic, Jenny handed me a Mai Tai. I let it go. I turned around to people watch at the party, while Levi got her drink order filled. That's when I saw her, Mirajane. She was even more beautiful in person, with her long, silky, silver hair and perfect tan all lounged out in a beach chair, a literal pool boy fanning her with a literal palm leaf. I didn't think it was possible for someone to be so perfect. I realized at that moment that it would be impossible to get to her. She was surrounded by a flock of social climbing wasps, trying to grab some social clout for just breathing her air.

"Hey Jenny!" A blond haired guy waved over at us.

"Oh!" she said. "Hibiki!" We worked our formation over to him, he met us half way. I had met Hibiki before, and I knew that he and Jenny are in the same guild based on previous encounters. Hibiki was a gorgeous specimen of a man, his body was carved out of marble and the way he looked at you from under his golden man bangs, well, it was enough to make any girl nervous. He was a known player though. I mean his Wikipedia's page says that he's best known for being friends with Scott Disick, if that tells you anything.

"Hibiki! I didn't know you were coming here!" Exclaimed Jenny

"How could I not!? So many pretty ladies in one place, I wasn't about to miss out on an opportunity like this! Speaking of pretty ladies, who are your friends here?"

"Oh! Excuse me for not introducing them sooner! These are my friends Levi and Lucy." Jenny gestured respectively.

"Lovely to meet you both." Hibiki held out his hand for each of us to shake. "Lucy, I believe I've met you before. You're Sting's girl, right?"

"Uh, actually not anymore." I say awkwardly.

"Oh well in that case Lucy, let me buy you a drink."

"Um, how about my next one? I just got this one." I say holding up my drink.

"I'll hold you to that Ms. Lucy." He said, giving me what he evidently thought was his sexiest smile. We stood there and shared small talk and idol gossip, some more of Jenny's guild members came over. At some point I turned to Levi and said.

"I have to go to the bathroom." Because girls can never go to the bathroom by themselves. We made our way squeezing through the crowd, holding hands so we didn't lose each other. Naturally the line was long, we had to stand and wait in line. I could tell that Levi was starting to get pissy that she was being largely ignored. I couldn't blame her for feeling out of place. Levi's gorgeous, but she was a lot shorter and a lot less busty than the other girls at the party. Her beauty was more natural, more 'let's go hike a mountain and eat quinoa', then Malibu Barbie. She didn't say anything about it, but I could tell how she was feeling from the strange telepathy that develops between best friends. "Hey, after this do you want to get in the pool and order margaritas?" I offered, in the hopes that tequila would cheer her up.

"Yeah, that fine." She said, but she didn't really seem to cheer up. What did cheer Levi up however, happened after we were finished with the ladies' room. Sauntering passed us was a goddess, a legend, a very tall, very skinny, very blonde, very pink, women, who brushed Levi's arm in her graceful ballet to the restroom. I stood mummified to the spot, my eyes like saucers.

"Levi! Do you know who that just was?"

"Huh?"

"Levi! That was Paris Hilton! Paris Hilton just touched your arm!" We both broke our necks to crane a look behind us. There she was, in a sequined silver dress, as the bathroom door closed behind her, obscuring our view.

"No way!" She exclaimed, her mood instantly lifted. She quickly clamped a hand over where Paris had brushed it. "I've never washing this arm!" We giggled together, admittedly a little star stuck, all the way over to the pool. The water was warm and relaxing, and because the models didn't want to actually get wet, not very crowded. We got our drinks, and sat down on some underwater stools, gushing about what just happened. We were sipping our margaritas on the rocks, just enjoying each other's company for a while. While we were surrounded by all kinds of fame and talent, but for a moment we were both just resigned to sit in each other's company. A hand slid casually over my shoulder, I looked up to see who it was. It was Hibiki, and a friend.

"I thought I was getting your next drink Ms. Lucy." He grabbed my arm and extended it, running his fingers lightly down the length of my arm, ticklish. Okay, that was kind of creepy.

"Oh, sorry Hibiki!" I say sweetly. "I forgot." I didn't forget.

"It is okay Ms. Lucy, I forgive you. After all, how could a man stay mad at a women so stunning as you." Embarrassingly, I spit my drink out. What kind of cheesy line was that anyways? Hibiki is supposed to be this famous womanizer, is this how he did it? With corny pick-up lines? "What you don't believe me that you are stunning?"

"It's not that, it's just. You're in a room full of Victoria Secret models, and I'm your target?" I say sarcastically. My creepy radar was going haywire. It's not like I'm self-conscious, but we were in a room filled with some of the most beautiful women in the world. The fact that he sought ME out wasn't flattering, he thought I would be an easy meal.

"Oh you're so humble! What an endearing quality in a lady I must say." At this point his friend cleared his throat, annoyed at being left out of the conversation. He was a heavily muscled Samoan man, covered with tribal tattoos and long, beautiful hair. "Excuse me Ladies, this is Gajeel." Said Hibiki, rolling his eyes. "Gajeel, this is Lucy and Levi."

"Nice to meet you both." Said Gajeel, holding his hand out to Levi first. We began harmlessly flirting with them for a while, but eventually Hibiki was becoming too much for me. He kept touching my face, rubbing my back and I had dodged a kiss from him already. I had to get out of the situation before I did, or said, something rude. Levi wasn't catching my hints; she had become infatuated with Gajeel. They were like off in their own little world together. She was laughing at is lame jokes, and touching his arm. Good grief! I stood up.

"I have to go to the ladies' room, I'll be right back. No, it's fine Levi." I say interrupting her as she was about to stand up. "You can stay, I'll be quick." I was a lot of things, but I was no cock block. I figured if I was trying to get close to Mirajane, it was now or never. I got out of the pool and was starting to make my way over to where Mirajane's "camp" was. I was stopped dead in my tracks. Right as I approached the rows of beach chairs, there was Sting, with a Victoria Secret model on his lap and a tumbler of dark liquor in his hand. I stood right in front of them for a moment, open mouthed gaping at the audacity of this asshole. How I EVER thought for a SECOND I was going to take him back! At first neither of them noticed me, and I was about to stalk off fuming, without saying a word.

"LUCY!" Sting exclaimed finally noticing. He stood up too quickly, pitching the Victoria Secret model on the floor, like in some romantic comedy. "Lucy! I didn't know you were coming here tonight!?" I turned to walk away, he grabbed my arm to stop me.

"Clearly!" I say gesturing towards the highly offended model.

"Come on Lucy, you know I…" I ripped my arm from his grasp but he just grabbed my waist instead. His breath was heavy with alcohol and he'd been drinking brown liquor. Any kind of brown liquor and Sting way always a bad combination. When we were dating it was a rule that he wasn't aloud any. Clear liquor, the drunker he got the softer, more puppy-like he became. Brown liquor though? The stuff turned him into the worst version of himself. "What's this?" I ignore him, he was meaning my scars. The hot water had dissolved the concealer. Shit. "Lucy! Where did you get these!?" I fought out of his grip and stumbled backwards, plastering my arms to my sides in an attempt to conceal them.

"I…I…I" I stuttered. I didn't know what to say, I couldn't tell him the truth and I couldn't think of a lie. After all he was the one with the explaining to do, not me!

"LUCY!" Sting shouted, smashing his glass tumbler on the ground by my feet. "Did he do that to you!?" Demanded Sting, furious. The party had stopped; everyone was staring at the scene we were making. I didn't answer. I was a confused mix of emotions. I was mad, but I also felt guilty. I didn't know what to say to calm Sting back down. I couldn't just walk away either, I knew Sting wouldn't give up. Sting grabbed my body jewelry and used it to yank me close to his chest. "Did Natsu give you those burns!?" Sting growled. You could hear a pin drop; you know it's bad if the DJ stops. Tears where starting to burn over the edge of my eyes. I nodded. In his fury he pulled tighter on my body jewelry causing it to snap. Beads and fake crystals scattered across the floor, deepening my shame. I backed up and crossed my arms protectively. Here was everyone who was anyone. Paris Hilton, politicians, a room full of elite and Sting was humiliating me in front of everyone. Sting started to glow a white light, the crowd gasped, some ran.

"That's enough, Sting." A hand was placed on Sting's shoulder. The hand belonged to a shirtless man covered in lean muscle, about 25, he was tall, about 6'4" with pitch black hair and startlingly blue eyes.

"Did you fuck him Lucy!?" Sting started to approach me again, completely ignoring the man that was trying to step in. Sting took a step towards me again. "HUH!? DID YOU FUCK HIM?!" Sting roared, closing in on me. The man with black hair cut in between us, putting a hand on Sting's chest.

"Let it go, Sting. Walk away!"

"What are you going to do about it Grey!?" Sting snarled in return. Grey? As in Natsu's friend Grey?

Before anyone knew what happened Sting shot a blast of white light out of his hands, Grey blocked them with a wall of ice. Sting retaliated setting off a small explosion of light and energy, tossing beach chairs and causing the wall of ice to burst into a million pieces. Sting was about to pair the attack with fists full of light when Grey stood up, stretched his arms out and turned Sting's arms to ice. Grey's counter served to block the attack, but it didn't stop Sting. Sting crashed his arm together, causing the ice to break. Grey, in a flurry of icy mist and frost, procured a sword made of ice. Sting pulled his arms up like he was about to shoot an imaginary bow, except instead of shooting imaginary arrows, he shot brilliant beams of white energy. Grey did the best he could to block the energy with the sword, but some of them went into the water, some destroying umbrellas, people screamed and had to dodge out of the way.

"Enough's, enough!" The man Gajeel appeared on Grey's side, cracking his knuckles. Levi suddenly appeared on my side, hugging me and comforting me as I sobbed shamelessly in her arms.

"Lucy! Lucy! Are you okay!?" Levi asked as she used her cover-up to dap at the mascara that had leaked all down my face. "What happened?"

"You're out numbered, Sting." Said Grey. "Give it up." Sting seemed to come to his senses and think better of a two on one situation. He gave me a glared that struck me right to my soul, and finally turned away. Seemingly unfazed, Grey turned around smiling at me. "You're Lucy Heartfilia aren't you?"

"Y…yes." I say, hiccupping. "How do you know my name?" He held out a hand for me to shake.

"I'm Grey, Natsu's friend. He's told me a lot about you." We shook hands, I was still pretty dazed and confused. My emotions shot and my eyes all puffy from crying.

"Thank's Grey. I don't know what I would've…" I started.

"Ah! Don't mention it. I'll take any excuse to give Sting a pieced of my mind." Grey pounded his fist in his hand to prove that he was ready for more.

"Wait a minute!" Said Gajeel. "You're telling me THIS is the chick Natsu's been with the whole time!?…hahaha….. HAHAHAHAHA!" Gajeel burst into uncontrollable laughter, holding his stomach, doubling over, tears glistening in his eyes. "Natsu, you sly dog, you!" Levi and I stared at him blankly. I couldn't decide if I should be offended or not.

"Come on." Said Grey. "Let's get you two home."

We piled into Gajeel's H4 Hummer after the valet brought it up front. Grey helped Levi and I into the back.

"So, hey Lucy, where was Natsu tonight?" Asked Grey.

"You mean you don't know where he is!?" I say a little panicked.

"No, we thought he was with you!" Grey responded defensively. "What happened that he left? Did you end up getting your keys back?"

"Yeah …." I went on to tell them the whole story of the genie, how I got my keys back, and how Natsu peace'd out after that.

"Figure's Natsu would think he could take on a rogue genie by himself." Chuckled Gajeel. I failed to see what Gajeel thought was so funny all the time.

"Have you heard anything from him recently?" I asked Grey.

"No, have you?"

"No…"

Grey turned around in his seat to flash me a reassuring smile. "Don't worry Lucy, I'm sure he'll turn up sooner or later. He always shows up right when you least expect it!"

"Yeah." Offered Gajeel. "Natsu isn't the most reliable person when it comes to communication. Anyways, looks like we're here." Gajeel pulled up to our dorm hall. He hopped out of his seat to help Levi out of hers. Grey helped me out of mine.

"It was nice meeting you Lucy. It's nice to know Natsu has someone outside of Fairy Tail lookin' after him."

"Yeah… Thanks Grey. For you know, helping me out with Sting."

"No problem!" He smiled. "Like I said I'll take any excuse to pummel that guy! Hey, Listen." Said Grey, suddenly getting all serious. "If you talk to Natsu before I do, let him know that Laxus wants talk to him, will ya? I don't know all of what Nastu's told you but, he belongs with us, in Fairy Tail. Let him know I said that too."

"Will do." I nod. IF I ever saw him again I would, but at this rate, it didn't seem like I was going to. They boys got back in Gajeel's H4, we walked up to our gait and they drove off. We unlocked our dorm room and I finally looked over and noticed, Levi was beat red. I mean Kool-Aid fruit punch red.

"Damn they got my order wrong!" I said as I opened the paper bag of fast food. I've been living on the road since I left Lucy stranded near Denver. I used some of my reward money to buy an old, shitty Lancer and a duffle bag full of essentials. I can't stand driving anything with an automatic transmission, and let's just say Lucy's Ultima didn't change my opinion. Back when I was in Fairy Tail, I drove a Hellcat, right about now I was sorely missing its 707lb torque engine. Living on fast food was also starting to catch up to me, I haven't shit right in a month. Staying in motels was taking a toll on the meager bank account I set up, if I didn't find what I was looking for soon, I would have to stop to take another job. For weeks I've been following the exact longitude the genie sent me on, I've been following it like a mad man, trying to see if I can catch a scent, a whisper, something. No such luck. All I've achieved is wasting a bunch of time trying to turn over every rock in Wyoming. I know genies are full of trickery, but there must have been some truth to it. Right? Yesterday, I finally made it to Montana, which if nothing else was a change of scenery. Today, I made it to the end of the road, I would have to continue on foot. I had to back track to find an REI. I bought a backpack, a camel pack, some protein bars and a sleeping bag. I shed real tears when I got a look at my receipt. Why do humans do this for fun? Why would anybody pay all this money to sleep outside?

It was August, so it was scorching hot outside. I mean, I'm 98% fire and I was sweating like a stuffed pig. The majority of my great wilderness adventure was rolling plains of nothing, meaning there was no cover. I spent the first night in the middle of the field, I wasn't worried though. I felt sorry for any coyotes that crossed my camp site. The next day I finally made it to the mountains, by that time I willingly traded some cover for more difficult terrain. I spent half the day following some hiking trail up half the mountain. I kept my nose to the wind, hopeful for any kind of particle that would at least reassure me I was on the right path. Without any kind of progress, I was feeling like a damned idiot. Being totally alone in the wilderness also isn't great for your mental health, I don't know what those Buddhist Monks are talkin' about. With no cell service, no music, no gear shifting to occupy space in my mind, I've been doing a lot of thinking. Particularly thinking of Lucy, no matter how many times I catch myself. I really felt like a douchebag for leaving her the way I did, and for not returning her texts. What was I supposed to say? "Hey, sorry I've been ignoring your texts, I've been debating on whether or not I should ever talk to you again." Oh, I got it. How about "Hey Lucy, sorry I've been MIA, I just can't be around you without wanting to fuck you?"? Yeah, that'd go over well. In my heart I knew the best thing to do would be to walk away now, and never look back. Before either of us get in too deep, especially myself. I would spend 45 minuets, talking myself up of all the reasons that I should turn around and go back, but then I would remember the vision of her limp in my arms and I would carry on forwards. This cycle happened twice yesterday, and once today already. I was confident I had made the right decision. Sure, she might be a little confused for a couple of weeks, but in the long run, she'd be safer, happier, without me in her life.

It was sunset by the time I reached the peak of mountain range. I'd reached it fairly quickly because instead of using climbing ropes, I just used fire blasters on my feet. The view was unbelievable, the setting sun cast an orange light over horizon, even someone like me could see beauty here. I paused to take a deep breath. What was that? A familiar scent tingled my nose. What? Here? The wilderness really has been messing with my mind. Then I looked to the east, a dark silhouette appeared, cloak blowing in the breeze. I moved towards it perplexed. The figure was taller than me, broader, with some kind of hat…

"Going for that Van Helsing look nowadays?" I asked.

"Van Helsing!? I thought it was more Indiana Jones."

I laughed. "Indiana Jones doesn't wear a cloak!"

"Oh… he doesn't?"

"Hahaha! No! He definitely doesn't."

"Nice to see you Natsu."

"Back at you, Gildarts."

"What are you doing on top of this mountain anyways?"

I shrugged. "What else? Looking for Igneel." Gildarts gave a curt nod. "What are you doing?"

"Funny you say that. I'm here on a mission. Apparently there's a 'Dragon' in this mountain. There's been complains from a rancher about some missing cattle."

"What!? A dragon wouldn't do that!?"

"My thoughts exactly…" There was awkward pause between us. The Fairy Tail elephant in the room. Like always, Gildarts hadn't been around when the shit hit the fan, but I was sure he'd have heard about it by now. "Hey Natsu, what'd you say we team up together on this one? For old times sake?" A wide grin spread across my face.

"For old time's sake."

Turns out what the ranchers where calling a 'Dragon' was really just a reptile like demon that had an affinity for beef. I mean anything can pass for a dragon these days, this thing didn't even have wings! Or breath fire! Gildart's and I entered the cave the thing was living it, it was one of the worst smells I'd ever come across. All full of rotting cow carcass's. Anyways, with the two of us the thing didn't have a chance. The fight was really more of a pissing contest between Gildarts and myself anyways. Afterwards we resigned to walk back to our cars together. It was starting to become evident that my efforts where futile, I needed fresh direction.

"So what's this you leaving Fairy Tail nonsense I hear about?" Gildarts finally asked over the fire I'd started.

"I didn't leave Fairy Tail, that old man Makarov kicked me out."

"I thought Laxus was in charge now?"

"He is, that's why I'm out. I can't accept that decision. Erza was a much more…." Gildarts cut me off.

"What have you got against Laxus anyways? I mean other than the fact that he's engaged to Lisanna?" He said, scratching at the weeks old scruff on his face, that had turned more peppered since the last time I'd seen him.

"Lisanna's got nothing to do with this!" I say, almost shouting. I was starting to get pissy, everyone always thought that's what this was all about, but it wasn't. This goes much deeper than that. "Laxus has no empathy! He's selfish! Always doing missions on his own! No offense." I say, Gildarts also mainly did solo missions, that was because his type of magic doesn't play well with others. There was always a lot of casualties when Gildarts shows up on the scene. "Not like Makarov at all, I just can't see him being a good leader, I can only see him being patronizing and picking favorites."

"Hmm. I think he may surprise you. I know I haven't been around a lot, you and Laxus have always butted heads ever since you guys where kids. You've never seen the good sides of Laxus because he never shows them to you. From what I've seen Laxus has done a heck of a job so far. Cana got her cards stolen by Sabertooth, and instead of marching in their guns blazing like we always do, Laxus has come up with a pretty decent plan if you ask me. You're right, he's not Makarov. Makarov is attentive to the needs and skill set of his guild, but he has his flaws as well. There are many different types leaders, Natsu. Maybe it's time you give Laxus a chance."

"Even if I was willing to give him a chance. It's too late, I've been exiled."

"Exile is a strong word. I feel like Makarov meant it to be…. More of a time out. He was treating you like a child because you were acting like a child. Your temper is not one of your better attributes, Natsu. Besides, it's not Makarov's guild anymore, its Laxus's, and I hear Laxus is looking to have a little chat with ya."

"Oh yeah." I growl. "Over my dead body would I go…."

"Just think about it Natsu, that's all I ask."

We woke up the next morning, we spoke only when necessary and cleaned up the campsite. Wordlessly we hiked back to our cars, side by side. When we finally get there it was already well into the afternoon, I was covered in insect bites and eager for a shower. Our silent hike had cooled my temper off a bit. I shouldn't hold it against Gildarts, was only telling it to me like he saw it. Can't blame him. Maybe there was some truth to what he said, but I wasn't ready to go back. At least not yet. Maybe deep down, this was less to do with Laxus and more to do with me. Before departing, Gildarts put a hand on my shoulder.

"You've gotten stronger since out last little grapple." He said. "If you do decide to go at it alone, I think you'll do just fine." I nodded. Neither one of us had ever really been the sentimental type. I opened by car door, Gildarts turned to walk away, before I shut myself in I heard him say over his shoulder. "Just think about it Natsu!"

I reached in the center consul of my car where I had left my phone. I knew I would have no service and I hadn't wanted my battery to die. What the fuck!? I had like 11 missed calls from Grey. Worried it was some kind of emergency, or someone had been hurt I hastily dialed. Grey picked up almost immediately.

"Where the FUCK have you been Natsu!? I've been trying to reach you for days!"

"What!? What is it?"

"A couple of days ago, some of us we were at the annual Victoria Secret party at the Cabana, for Mirajane, you know." I did know, I'd gone in the past, but I failed to see where this story was going or how it related to me.

"Yeah, yeah." I say, urging the story along.

"Well Lucy was there with a friend of hers. I don't really know how it started but her and Sting got in a fight. That's how I knew it was Lucy. Anyways, the fight didn't look good, he had ripped some jewelry or something off of her and it went everywhere. Then he started screaming something about you, Natsu, and he started to glow up. Gajeel and I had to run inference. Don't worry she's alright now, we took her home…."

"I'm going to kill him." I gritted through my teeth. Anger boiled my veins. My hands started to melt the steering wheel. I could hardly hear what Grey said next. "Listen to me Natsu, this was all bad timing. Laxu's has a plan pieced together to get Cana's cards back, that plan drops tonight. Let's just say Sabertooth's going to be out for revenge, and since we publically stood up for Lucy…" I could follow Grey's train of thought. Sabertooth isn't a guild that would be above collateral.

I was unwinding alone in my room after a long day of classes. Levi had left right after class to go home for her nephew's birthday, or something like that. Usually in college moments you get to yourself are like precious gems, now though in light of everything that had happened to me recently, it was not a welcome feeling. I had been coping by staying active, sticking to a routine. Tonight however, I just put on my most comfortable baggy t-shirt, no pants, and put my hair up in one of those kinds of buns you hope nobody catches you in. I admit it. I was wallowing. I was watching a horror movie on Netflix and scarfing down Doritos like it was my job. Not in a cute way either. I had accidentally chosen a movie that was way too much. Had I not been totally alone, or in the dark, I probably would have found it tolerable. At the same time, turning it off would have been admitting defeat. The music was picking up, the main protagonist was tip toeing through the house, the villain behind any corner. There was a tap on my window. My soul left my body. I screamed bloody murder and fell off my bed, scrambling frantically. A large shadow was perched outside my dorm room window. Another tap. Upon closer inspection, it was a person, crouched kind of like a frog on my windowsill.

"Lucy? Lucy! It's me. Open up!" At hearing the voice my soul entered back into my body and my panic washed away. It was Natsu. What the hell was he doing coming in through the window? Once I came to my senses, I let him in. "Sorry I had to come through the window." He said. "Security wouldn't let me in." He was soaked, it was pouring outside and he was dripping all over everything.

"Natsu!? What are you doing here!?" My voice was breathier then I would have liked.

"I, uh, came to check in on you. I heard about what happened the other night." He said, a little uncomfortably. He came to check in on me? He was concerned? If he was so concerned why did it take him two days?

"Oh yeah, with Sting." I acknowledge. My shame deepening now that Natsu had found out about it.

"Sorry it's been so long; I've been out of cell service range." So that's why he hadn't been returning my texts. Easily, I believed him, I wanted the reason for our lack of communication to be something like that. Something other than that he didn't want to talk to me. "Listen Lucy, we've got to get out of here."

"What?"

"I have reason to believe that Sabertooth may come after you. We've got to hide you until all this whole thing blows over."

"Wait. Why would Sabertooth be coming after me?"

"Fairy Tail has something planned with them tonight. I think it may be the start of a guild war. Based on your little show down at the Cabana, well, Grey and I are concerned you might be an easy target." That was a reach. I had nothing to do with guild wars. What did guilds care about me for? I wasn't in one. My fight was with Sting; it was humiliating, but it was hardly something to go to 'war' for. I wasn't going to put my life on hold because of Sting.

"I can't go." I say shortly. "I have class tomorrow."

"Lucy… I think this is more important than class."

"Natsu, you're being ridiculous. I don't have anything to do with either guild. Why would they want me? It makes no sense."

He grabbed my shoulders, his breath hot on my face. "I think there's a good chance you're involved now whether you like it or not. Lucy, we've got to get out of here!"

"I'm not leaving." I say firmly. "What? Natsu, you come back from weeks and weeks of no contact, and you say 'jump' and expect me to ask 'how high?'? As If!" I finishing huffy, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Fine then." He says, getting testy. He starts taking off his wet boots to stand in my dorm room with wet socks.

"What are you doing?!"

"If you're not coming with me, I'm going to have to stay here." He said sighing exasperatedly.

"You realize I share this room with Levi, right?!"

"Wow, College dorms really do suck huh?"

"Natsu! You can't stay here! You're being absurd, no one is coming after me. I'm okay. So…. You can leave now."

"Make me." He said slyly, folding his arms over his chest, mimicking my suborn posture and narrowing his eyes at me.

"Fine!" My plan was to wrestle him to the door and then close it in his face. Try as I might, he didn't budge. To my horror he pulled his wet shirt off over his head, laid it out to dry on my desk chair, then sat down in his wet jeans on my futon. I blew some stray hairs out of my face.

"Whatcha watching?" He asked causally changing his tone, seeing that Netflix was paused on my TV screen and helping himself to my opened bag of Doritos. One night, I would humor him for one night.

"The Babadook." I reply, failing to mention it had been scaring the piss out of me before he showed up.

"Huh, never seen it." He said between mouthfuls of chips.

"What movies HAVE you seen?"

"Not many, never had the time."

"Oh." There was another one of our famous pauses. Then I asked. "You want me to order pizza?" I didn't need to reply, the look on his face was enough.

We finished up the Babadook and were halfway through the Conjuring, we'd shared a pepperoni pizza and a few beers. At some point, without any prelude, Natsu turns to me and asks. "What were you and Sting fighting about at the party?" As he grabbed for my uneaten crusts.

"Oh, I. I caught him with another girl at the party." I say, taken a little off guard.

"Oh." He says, obviously stung.

"I wasn't expecting him to be there. And then…." It was super awkward telling Natsu that our fight was about him. I mean Natsu and I, we weren't anything, he's made that pretty clear. But if I didn't tell him, then it would look like I was scornful, and I didn't want that either, plus I didn't know how much Grey had already told Natsu. "Well before the party I got a spray tan, I wasn't thinking, it kind of made the scars on my ribs more noticeable. Levi and I tried to cover them up with concealer, but it washed off in the pool. Sting noticed and well… he assumed…" I trailed off because, for the first time in all that I've known him, Natsu looked shocked. He even stopped eating.

"That's why you guys where fighting!?" I looked away. I didn't want to meet whatever expression he had on his face. Guilt? Pity? He pulled my face back to look at him, brushing stray hairs from my face. For a moment I thought he was going to kiss me, butterflies flapped around in my stomach. Instead he asked. "Can I see them?" Wordlessly I nodded and pulled my shirt up, wishing that I had chosen a better bra today. Through the blueish light cast onto us by the TV, he carefully inspected them. His hands usually rough and calloused, where gentle, his fingers traced my scars with care. A dark shadow seemed to be cast over his face. His iris's, usually hazel, seem to fade to black, the muscles along his arms and shoulders stiffened. I sat there perfectly still, almost not breathing. Natsu's fingers began to wander from my ribs, lightly down my navel to my hip bones. The feeling was painfully ticklish, but I didn't dare move. It was like having a wild animal come up to you and eat out of the palm of your hand. He traced his fingers along the edge on my lace top underwear, then raked his eyes up my front until he locked eye contact with me. He did kiss me then. He cradled my body with his left arm, my head with his right. It was the most delicate, intentional kiss of my life. He was telling me how he felt through his body rather than his words. With the light pressure of his lips and hands he told me how sorry he was that he'd done this to me. With his decisive patterns he drove kisses to tell me that'd he would live with the guilt forever. With his arms wrapped around me, muscles tense but not squeezing, he told me that he would keep me safe. I tried to use my body in a way that told him that it was alright, that I would accept him for who he was, that I didn't hold this against him. And then our kisses turned to something else, something hungrier.

Our kisses became desperate, frantic to find acceptance in each other. Natsu's hands dug into my hair, I don't know how, suddenly my hair tie was gone and my hair fell in a blonde mess around my arms. My arms slide over his traps. Natsu lifted me up, pulling our bodies closer together. My body arched against his, almost involuntarily. Expertly, Natsu unclasped my bra before I even knew what was happening. As if it was an automatic response he dropped his head to my breasts, worshiping them with both his hands and mouth. My breathing became breathy and audibly wanton. Suddenly, as if I was I was weightless, Natsu picked me up, my legs stilled wrapped around his torso, he walked over to spill me back onto the bed.

Lucy landed with a small bounce onto her mattress, her bare boobs jiggling. Without skipping a beat, she reached up to meet me. Her kissing was desperate, and she had to pull away often to catch her breath. Her hands where all over my chest, my lats, my abs. My dick was so hard it was like a steel rod against the zipper of my jeans. Lucy seemed to notice this, before I could stop her she undid jeans, he springing free of his confines. She hesitated, intimidated, the response every man hopes for when he unzips his jeans. Bashfully she closed a hand around my shaft, I groaned under her touch. All the muscles in my body went rigid, my balls where heavy and my head felt like it was splitting in half for all the restraint I was showing. Driven by lust, I couldn't hold it anymore, I ripped Lucy's panties off, the last barrier between myself and paradise. I growled as I plunged into her, and not a human growl either. Her insides where so tight, the suction of it was unlike anything I had ever experienced. I stilled, buried in her up to the hilt. I did a mental check list, no scales, no claws, but it was taking every last bit of my will power to cool my inner furnace. I couldn't dwell on Lucy's face, revel in the sound she made as I entered her, all I could do was focus on not losing control. I pulled back and thrust back in experimentally. "Fuck!" I cursed. There was no way I could do this; I was right all along. I couldn't, if I continued I would only hurt her. I pulled out. Lucy seemed to understand what was going on, she sat up and pushed my shoulders back onto the mattress. She climbed on top of me and I put a hand on her hip to stop her.

"It's alright." She said softly. "You lay there and focus on staying in control, I'll do all the work." I meant to stop her, but I got caught, mesmerized by the vision of her sliding onto me. She held her hands out on my stomach so that she could hover a little, as if I was too much for her to go all the way in at this angle. She started to move them, slowly at first, her breathing heavy. I didn't dare touch her, I grasped onto the bedding like a life line. My furnace trying to explode, by threads of iron will, I kept a lid on it. She started to move faster, her tits bouncing, her lips swollen from all our making out. The experience for me was both horrifying and exhilarating. Horrifying because at any moment I could boil over and hurt her like I had before. She leaned forward and kissed me, slowing her motions down to aggravatingly slow. Inch by infuriating inch. She left my mouth, trailing down my face as she sped up again. My balls started to scrunch up, my dick pulsing. Lucy was kissing the side of my neck. Filled to the brim of all I could take I pumped into her, she threw her head back then, and cried out. Her cry was drowned out by another one of my animalistic growls, I was cuming hard, pumping everything I had into her. Her climax came as well, her walls milking my dick for every last drop.

The next morning, I woke to the sound of Lucy's alarm, and her sitting bolt upright in bed. She was a beautiful mess, her long hair all teased out and tangled. Her skin still dewy and flushed.

"I'm going to be late!" She exclaimed in a panic, her naked body climbing over mine to turn off the alarm. She started hurrying, opening and slamming drawers, pulling on underwear, hopping up and down, shoving a leg into some leggings.

"Whoa whoa whoa! Where are you going?" I say.

"To class! I'm going to be late!"

"No you're not." I say, trying to pull her back to bed.

"I don't have time for this! I have a quiz!" She ripped herself out of my grasp and started shoving books in her backpack.

"No, Lucy. You're not." I say more seriously, pulling on my pants. "Did you forget the whole reason why I here!? Sabertooth is…"

"What!? Going to abduct me from class!? In broad daylight Natsu?"

"You have no idea what they're cap…" She cut me off.

"Natsu!" She shouted. "You're not going to come in here after weeks of completely ignoring me and tell me how to live my life! You say Sabertooth is going to see me as weak target huh? Well, I've not news for you, buster! I'm not as weak as you think I am! Besides, I really don't see any reason why I'd be involved in all this. If you ask me, your just being paranoid because you feel guilty!" Ouch. She got me there. Maybe she was right. Maybe I was being paranoid. No, but Grey thought so too.

"Okay fine! I'll just come with you then!"

"The hell you will! I don't need you distracting me. Plus, I've got enough attention on campus from the Victoria Secret party, the LAST thing I need is for a body guard to follow me around! Just wait here until I get out from class."

"When do you get out of class?"

"2:30"

"You be back here by 2:40 then, or I'm going to come looking for you!" This was really going against my better judgement. But maybe she was right, attacking her in a classroom on campus would be pretty ballsy."

By 3:00 I hadn't heard from her at all. I had decided to give her some extra time because I figured she was probably just being defiant. Now I was worried. I left her dorm and went to her classroom, no one was there except for the professor who was preparing for his next class.

"No, Lucy Heartfilia didn't come to class today. She missed a quiz, would you mind telling her? It shouldn't affect her grade too much, but missing class without notice is pretty unlike her."


	8. Chapter 9

Chapter 8

You Should be Scared of Me

Crippling pain shot through my shoulder, feeding its way up my arms to my wrists. My muscles gave out trying to hold up my body weight minuets ago, now I was being suspended by joints and tendons. This position alone was torture. I tried to focus on my breathing. In and out. In and out. Anything other than the pain of my shoulders being ripped from their sockets. My arms where above my head, tethered to a light fixture in the middle of a luxury hotel room suite. For now, I was alone, my vision blurry, exhaustion from trying to hold myself up, trying escape, was threatening my consciousness. I had put myself here. I had put myself here by my own ignorance and pride. I should have listened to Natsu, though at the same time I was glad I didn't or else he'd be in this mess instead of me.

I had left my dorm hall in a right pissy mood. I was mad that it took so long for Natsu to get back to me. I was mad that the only reason he came back was to check up on because of my very public fight with Sting, not because he missed me or anything. Finally, finally, we had sex and stupidly I thought that would be a turning point. That sex between us had meant that he saw me as an equal, like I wasn't half of something, like I was whole. Then this morning he ruined it by behaving just like he had before our intimate moments, like I was weak and incapable of taking care of myself, like I couldn't run on my own steam. After all we had fought two monsters together, hadn't I held my own? Hadn't I proved myself already? Now, dangling here helpless, my key and whip had been stripped from me so easily, now I knew what Natsu was trying to say. I was in over my head. I was so in over my head I didn't even know how deep the pool was. I was berating myself for how stupid I had been only hours before. I had left my dorm hall, already late for class, disregarding everything Natsu had said, I tried to take a short cut through some neighborhoods rather than taking the winding path through campus. I was over powered before I could even think. My keys and whip plucked from me as easily as a daisy in a garden. Natsu was right, I wasn't whole of anything, not wizard, not human, I was something in between. I was weak, I couldn't hold my own. Whatever that left me, left me undeserving of my keys if I couldn't even hold on to them.

The lock on the door flashed green, a toe headed blonde women with no eyebrows entered the room. She wore a white, lacey maxi dress, with silk blue pouch fasten around her neck. "Well, well, well, Lucy Heatfilia. I must say, if Layla had lived to see her daughter in this position, she'd have been quite disappointed." I couldn't say anything; my mouth was duct taped shut. "To think her prized Aquarius would be recovered so easily." The women smiled wickedly, pulling out Aquarius's key from the pouch around her next and waved it in front of my face. I struggled against my binds then, my reply muffled by the tape. "Hmmm foolish girl." She hummed, lightly stroking the nail of her index finger down my face. "Resistance from here on out will only cause you pain. Can't you see that?" Her voice was calm and even. "I suspect you're not ready to talk, but let's give you a chance to be a good girl, shall we?" She ripped the duct tape off my face in one sweep. I didn't dignify her with screams, I capitalized on the moment to catch my breath and fill my lungs with air. "Now tell me Lucy, where is Natsu Dragneel?"

"What do you want with Natsu?" My voice was strained and uneven. My suspicion peaked. Why did they want Natsu? I thought it was keys they were after. The women tisk'd at me.

"That's not what I asked, is it?" She said sweetly. "I'll ask you one more time. Where is Nastu, Lucy?" I didn't answer, just hung there helplessly, sucking in precious breaths. "Alright, I guess we're doing this the fun way." An evil expression crossed her face as she dug in her pouch again. "Virgo." She said. "Looks like I'm going to need a little help with this one." In a swirl of golden light, the celestial spirit Virgo appeared. Based on the key holder, the celestial spirits change appearance and forms of attack. The range and strength of those attacks depends on the strength of the key holder, as well as the key holder's relationship to each particular key. While Virgo always appears as a French maid, in this women's she was a kind of steam punk version. Her short, pink hair was in pig tails, she had a dog collar around her neck that read 'Punishment'.

"Gladly." Said Vigro, slapping a fresh piece of duct tape to my face. She manifested out of thin air a kind of red and black leather string whip. That didn't seem so bad, I could handle this. She wailed it through the air and brought the strips of leather across my thigh. The thin layer of my leggings providing little protection. It hurt way more than I had anticipated, despite my pride and desire to be stoic, I screamed against the tape, struggling against my bonds.

"Again."

"Of course, my lady." Virgo brought the whip down on my thigh harder this time. My lips struggled against the sticky side of the tape as my scream was muffled. Without any encouragement she wailed a third time, spitting open the fabric of my leggings, my skin already red and angry looking. Without warning she ripped the tape off. "Are you ready to answer my lady?"

"I don't know where Natsu is." I gritted. It was the truth, I knew where he had been, I had no clue where he was now.

"I hear he's no longer part of Fairy Tail, is that true?" Asked the toe headed women. No answer. The tape went back on. This time Virgo flogged my back, the stripes of leather whistling in the air, excruciating pain sear on my back. Tears welled in my eyes, my throat went dry. Tape off.

"I. Don't. Know." I panted, desperate for the extra air my mouth could gasp. Virgo left the tape off this time, flogging my back again. My screams pierced the air, high pitched and full of agony. Again and again the cycle continued. My screams growing hoarse, tears and snot streamed down my face, welts rising on my back. Eventually the women sighed.

"We're getting nowhere this way Virgo, you may go." The maid bowed low before disappearing in a mist of golden sparkles. "That's okay." She began coolly. "You don't need to tell me where he is. I'll just make him come to me. Congratulations Lucy! You've just landed your first role in a film production." She slapped the duct tape back on my mouth and left the room. All I could do was dangle there and try not to pass out from the pain. In and out. Breath. In and out. The welts over my body where tingling painfully, my shoulders felt like they were being ripped out of my body. I tried swinging so that my toes could reach the coffee table, hopeful that it would offer me an inch of relief, but the edge of it was just out of my reach. So I just went back to focus on breathing, my nostrils flaring, struggling to fill my lungs adequately.

What could have been an eternity, or a few minutes, the women returned with a black duffle bag and a tripod. She spent some time setting up a camera, plugging in chords, typing on her computer, adjusting the angle, setting up lights. Finally, she turned to look at me, tapping a finger to her lip. "No, no, no. This costume won't do." She said. She pulled out a small, delicate dagger from a holster on her thigh that had been concealed by the dress. She approached me then, my eyes wide with fear, I struggling frantically, afraid she was going to torture me with it in some way. I wasn't Lucy anymore. I was a frightened animal, a doe in the scope of a hunter's rifle. Pain can do weird things to you, tell you you're something that you're not. A teacher in high school once told me to never fear death, that it is an inevitability, don't worry about that which you cannot control. Pain, fear of pain is a rational. She didn't cut me though, she used the dagger to cut off my cloths that where covered in sweat, full of rips and tears from Virgo and my struggle earlier. The cheap cotton yielded easily to her sharp blade. I dangled there, naked, exposed, more vulnerable than I had ever been. Then she took a step back, admiring my naked body, thinking critically. I stared back at her, fire blazing in my eyes, my chest rising and falling in rapid, shallow breaths. "I have just the thing!" She announced, like she was Fairy Godmother dressing Cinderella. She pulled out of her bag a long, white chiffon, chemise that had a baby pink ribbon tied around the bust. She bunched it up, lifted it over my head, and let the fabric cascade over my body. Though I was still pretty exposed, I was at least relieved that I wasn't about to be tortured, naked, on camera. She then turned on the lights, and got behind the camera.

"Ready!? Lights! Camera! Action!"

"LAXUS!" I roared as I burst through the huge double doors into the main lounge of Fairy Tail's guild hall. "LAXUS!" I roared again, demanding an audience. He wanted a sit down, he was going to get one. My old guild mates stood up, shock evident on their faces, but also something else. Sorrow? My temper had almost reached the end of its tether. A few scales had begun to protrude on both my arms and face. Erza stood up, still wearing her usual armor, although she looked worn, clearly recovering from a recent battle. Grey was having a wound tended to him by Wendy, both of whom looked worse for the wear. "LAXUS!" I shout a third time.

"What is it Natsu?" Said Laxus calmly, was sitting at a table across from Jellal, his fingers laced together.

"What did you do!?" I growl, my words where barely comprehensible to even my own ears. My canine teeth enlarged beyond my control, making it hard to form words.

"Sit down, Natsu." Laxus gestured to the chair across from him, Jellal was getting up from the spot.

I went over to his table, but I didn't sit down, instead I slammed my fists on the table. "What did you do!?" I repeated.

Laxus sighed. "I guess there's no point in hiding it from you. I found blue prints of an old sewer system that had been developed underneath the city in the late 1800's. Some of them lead directly under the Sabertooth guild hall. Our plan was to infiltrate them by surprise, needless to say based on the look of us, that plan has backfired. Natsu….." Laxus paused, he seemed uncomfortable with what he was about to say. "Sabertooth has joined up with the Oracion Sies. We were unprepared, we got our asses handed to us. There was nothing left to do but retreat." Ice old water was dumped into my veins. This was so much worse than I thought. If it was members of the Oracion Sies that had Lucy…. My grip on the table tightened, splitting a crack down the center of the wood. "We did manage to collect a little constellation prize, so it wasn't a total loss." Laxus pointed at the ceiling above his head. In a holographic, magical box, set hovering in midair above the guild hall, was Rogue. Imprisoned. He was unharmed but the box was clearly leveling out his magical abilities. He sat pouting, leaning against the wall of the box, his head on his knees. Upon realization I growled something inaudible, I used my fire blasters out of my hands to send Laxus, who wasn't prepared for that reaction, across the room, landing in a pile of wooden tables and chairs.

"Natsu!" Scolded Urza, requiping, holding out a blade in my direction, standing between myself and Laxus. Laxus promptly stood up, electricity snapping angrily at his fists. I bared my teeth, flames licking up my arms.

"Natsu, what's this about?" Asked Grey, as he put a cold hand on my shoulder. Without taking my eyes off Laxus I say.

"They took Lucy."

At these words Gajeel dropped whatever glass he was holding, Mirajane scolded him for it. Laxus and I still hadn't broken eye contact, tension fizzled between us, sparks firing off the both of us. Before either of us could make our next move, a screen blurred static at the front of the guild hall, somehow magically projected. This grabbed everyone's attention, there was silence. The face of a scary looking, blonde women appeared, her face too close to the lens. I recognized her as a member of the Oracion Sies, Angel. She tapped the lens.

"Is it working?" She asked, her voice calm, almost bubbly. "I think it is. Well, hello there Fairy Tail! It's been a long time! I'm afraid you've found out our little secret." She chewed on her index finger, pouting. "Yes, we have teamed up with Sabertooth. I bet you're all just itching to find out why!" She held up her finger then and wiggled it back and forth. "Tisk, tisk. I can't tell you that yet!" She chirped in a girly, sing-song voice. "Where's the fun in that!? What I do need from you, Fairy Tail, is the location of Natsu Dragneel. I hear he's not with you anymore." She pursed her lips in a mock pout. "But I bet you know where he is! And! To make sure you tell me the truth…" She took a step back from the lens so we could see what she was concealing.

An ice hand felt like it was clenched around my chests, my stomach felt like it dropped out of my body. They had Lucy, strung up by her wrists to a chandelier, hanging in a lavish, high ceiling, hotel room suite. Her face was duct taped, her eyes red from crying, her hair drench with sweat hung limply down her sides, and she definitely wasn't wearing _that_ earlier…. "You have 24 hours to bring me Natsu Dragneel." She continued in her girly voice. "And if you don't…" She stood on a stool then by Lucy, she grabbed a handful of Lucy's hair, yanking her head back. Lucy's eyes where wide with fear, and she struggled against her bonds. Angel produced a dagger from somewhere on her person, lightly dragging the blade across Lucy's neck. The blade was so sharp, that even with no pressure it produced a thin cut on Lucy's neck. A single drop of blood dripped, ran down her neck, down her chest, disappearing somewhere inside of the lingerie they'd forced Lucy to wear. Angel, got off the stool and kicked it to the side, approaching the camera again. "Oh. And. As for Rogue? You can keep him!" She waved. The film went static for a second before cutting off.

The lid on my furnace exploded off, fire engulfed my whole body, scales rising up from my skin. Erza and Grey took hold of my shoulders, holding me back, I fought them wildly. Laxus approached calmly, putting a hand on my shoulder. "We'll get her back Natsu."

Only what I could assume to be hours, I hung, rotating slowly in a circle. I had no way to tell how long I'd been there, only by the lighting in the room did I know it was dark outside. I let my head hang limp, my breathing was shallow, my tears dry. My wrists were in agony from all my struggling, I was sure they were torn to shreds. I was fading in and out of consciousness, the moments I was conscious I was filled with foggy thoughts that didn't make any sense. Blood had pooled at my feet, and my legs felt strange and tingly. My abs, my neck, my back, they all hurt, my muscles exhausted from hours of dangling. Most of all was my shoulders, if only the pain in my shoulders would ebb. I had hoped that after a while they would go numb, they didn't. The blood had drained from my fingers down my arms, making it difficult for me to even move them. I had no feeling in my arms, they seemed a distant part of me.

Without warning the door to the hotel room flew open, the sturdy door had been blown off its hinges, flying head over heels into the room. I was in such a state that I was only mildly away of this. It didn't matter if they had come back to torture me, the fight had slipped out of my body with the setting of the sun. I opened my eyes out of mild curiosity to see who it was. I recognized him.

"Lucy!" He said, as if he was relieved to have found me here. Like this. He used a blast of magic to sever the ropes suspending me. I fell, crumpling into a heap to the ground, my legs made entirely out of Jell-O. I was relieved to finally be release, to be on solid ground, to let my arms fall below my head. Whoever had released me was talking to me, unwrapping the ropes from my wrists. Carefully peeling the duct tape off my face. My mind was fuggy, unregistering, the blood in my body had only just started to return to the correct places. I tried moving my legs, my arms, they wouldn't budge, wouldn't listen to what my brain was telling them. Would I be like this forever?

"Lucy!" Said a male voice again, grabbing me by the shoulders a shaking me lightly. I looked at the man's face, glassy and unfocused, unseeing. I recognized him. Why did I recognize him? He was handsome, with a scar over his left eye, tousled blonde hair….

"Sting!" I realized. Immediately I started to sob uncontrollably. This is what I wanted. To be saved. For someone else to be in control. For someone to come swoop down and take me away from this mess. I flopped my arms around his neck, holding onto him like a lifeline.

"Ssshhh. It's okay Lucy. I'm here now." He said, smoothing my hair. "I'm so sorry Lucy, I would have come sooner, but I didn't know where they were keeping you." His voice sounded raspy and uneven, as if he was crying too. We sat there a minuet, on the floor holding each other, my tears staining his shirt. "Can… can you stand?" Sting asked.

Sniffling, I shook my head. "I can't move them." I furrowed my brow, trying to move my legs. They budged slightly, they were still filled with too much blood to be able to use the them. Sting nodded, and in one swift movement swept me up in his arms.

"We have to get out of here Lucy! Before…" I nodded silently, holding onto him with what little strength I had. He carried us onto the elevator and pressed the button for the lobby. We rode in silence, I was focusing being able to breathe through my mouth again, letting the feeling return to my limbs. The elevator dinged, Sting stepped out onto the lobby floor. He turned down the small hall way, was about to head towards the exit when, a blazing heat blasted in front of us, as if the sun itself was in the hotel lobby. It came, hurtling towards us at the speed of light, the main force of it sent Sting flying backwards and me falling through the air. I was expecting to fall hard on the ground, somehow I landed in a hammock… that was made of ice? The cool sheen of the ice felt nice against my clammy skin. Before I knew what was going on, I was being picked up by somebody else. I looked up at him, uncomprehending.

"Hey Lucy!"

"Grey?" I asked. Then that blaze of heat must have been… I looked around. There was an enormous blonde, military looking man, wearing a black cut off and a tall, red headed amazon woman. Where they members of Fairy Tail!? My eyes flickered back to what must be a fight between Natsu and Sting. Natsu was just sent hurling through lobby over the top of the front desk. Employee's scattered raising some kind of alarm.

"Where's my brother, Natsu!?" Roared Sting.

"What did you do to Lucy!?" Snarled Natsu back, bearing his teeth. Natsu ablaze in fire. Sting ablaze in white light. Natsu summoned his katana, and Sting sent blasts of energy at him. Natsu did a one handed leap over the counter, he came for Sting, closing the distance between them, bouncing on the balls of his feet. Sting sent a number of magical attacks at Natsu, but something seemed to have come over Natsu, he wasn't himself. He seemed, too focused, too intent…. Scary. A dark shadow covered his face, his usually carefree body movements had transformed. Now he was lethal, calculated. He swerved, or ducked a shoulder, easily dodging all of Sting's attacks. The attacks he couldn't dodge, he sliced through with his sword. Natsu had closed the distance between them, raising his sword. In the nick of time Sting summoned his own sword, a rapier, that didn't exactly seem solid, it was made out of Sting's white light. Sting parried Natsu's advance, the force of Natsu's swing sending him backwards a few inches. For a few minutes the two spared. It was obvious that Sting had had less practice with a sword, it was all Sting could do to block. Natsu was relentless, his movements fluid, his timing perfect. Every blow sent Sting backwards, bit by bit, his arms where shaking. I looked around at Fairy Tail, they all just stood there, frozen, jaws on the floor. That's when I realized this wasn't just a fight they were having. The fog in my brain had started to clear as I watched Sting have to block Natsu's blow with one hand at the hilt, one hand on his own blade, blood seeping from his palm.

"Natsu!" I screamed, scrambling out of Grey's arms. I ran towards them, my legs giving out from under me, not yet ready to hold my weight. Grey tried to help me, I shrugged him off. I got back up and tried to run to them, slipping and sliding on the glossy hotel room floor, I felt like a baby giraffe learning to walk. Natsu finally made a move Sting hadn't anticipated, he swirled his katana around Sting's rapier, sending it scattering across the floor of the lobby, in the process Sting had tripped. Natsu loomed over Sting, his sword elbow cocked back, black fury in his eyes. Natsu jabbed his sword forward, aiming to stab into Sting's sternum.

I slid in between them, panting heavily, my legs giving out completely, I stood on my knees in front of Sting, facing Natsu, arms out. Natsu's katana was aimed right at my heart, at the last millisecond he pulled back his killing blow, letting his sword clatter to the ground. "Lucy!" he gasped, eyes wide, his deadly focus slipping from his features.

"Natsu! He was saving me!" I panted, breathing heavily from the energy it took to get here in time. "He was saving me. Natsu." I repeated. Natsu dropped to his knees in front of me, his eyes the size of saucers.

"Lucy!" He gasped, his arms falling limp at his sides. Sting was behind me, his breathing audible, a hand over his heart as he rolled over lying flat on the ground, exhausted from his near death experience. "Lucy." Natsu breathed again, lightly putting a hand on my shoulder. A moment passed and his grip became firm, his other hand joined my other shoulder. My arms instinctively flew to his wrists as he started to grip a little too hard. "Lucy!" He said more firmly this time, his tone scolding. "Never…. Never do that again!" He started to shake me a little, my head bobbled. "You understand me!? Lucy!"

"That's enough Natsu." Gray finally arrived. Natsu let his arms drop to his sides. Gray lifted my arm up to help me stand upright, I had to lean on him heavily, my head spinning. Natsu stood up, watching me for a moment.

"Lucy…" he said again, as if he was just now taking stock of my condition. Normally I would have hated to have him look at me this way, at my lowest. I didn't have the energy to care. My consciousness was starting to slip again, having exerted too much so soon, my body wasn't ready. Natsu pulled the shirt off his back and slipped it over my head, over the top of the chemise that women had me wear. I was too gone to care about modesty, but it seemed to bother Natsu.

Everyone turned as a women appearing, a girlish giggle on her lips, she was emerging from the crowd of hotel guests that where frantic for the exit.

"Nastu! I will say that I'm surprised you found us so fast." She seemed almost bored, checking her cuticles before meeting my gaze. "Now, do be a gentleman won't you, and give me just a tiny drop of your blood?" Her voice melted from a melodic and girly to hag-like. I reached down, without breaking eye contact to grab my sword. Emerging from the crowd on either side of Angel, Rufus Lore in his signature, maroon three-piece suit and man bun. On her other side Midnight, a younger Marilyn Manson type, wearing feathers for earrings. Erza and Laxus squared up of either side of me, Erza already requiping.

I stole a glance back to Lucy, Grey had had to pick her back up in order to lay her on a nearby sofa. As Grey set her down, her chemise shifted up her thigh, revealing angry red welts that cover her leg. Slowly I turned my gaze back to Angel, a red tint to my vision, the scales on my arms starting to creep up my neck onto my face. My hands balling to fits, fire igniting up my arms.

Angel was the first to move, she reached into the pouch around her neck and held out a key, the celestial spirit Taurus, appeared in a swirl of golden mist. He appeared at the ready, an 8-foot-tall black angus monstrosity, standing up on his hind legs and wielding a battle axe. He pawed the ground with his hoof, snorted, steam coming from his nostrils. Taurus charged head first at me, intending to impale me with his horns. I leapt out of the way. Around me other fights where breaking out, Laxus and Midnight, Erza and Rufus, Grey and Sting. I let my katana evaporate, preparing for Taurus's next charge. He charged at me again, headlong, I produced a rope made out of fire, using the fire coming out of my hands and pulling it, shaping it, into what I want. As Taurus charged I lassoed him around the horns. Digging my heels into the ground I created tension in the rope pulling him towards me. As he fell towards me I landed a double kick to his side. He made a noise very much like a real bull, and toppled over. He scrambled on to all fours, then pushed himself up to his full height, holding his axe with two hands, swinging at me. He was strong, but he was slow, I ducked and dodged easily. I let him swing, let him get close. Then I shot blasts of heat and fire out of the palms of my hands, aimed at Taurus's chest. Large holes where my attack had blasted through him began to grow, bordered in a golden sparkling dust. Eventually they spread over his whole body, and he poof'd back to the celestial world.

Angel seemed ruffled, surprised that someone had taken down Taurus so easily. She only scowled and she pulled out her second key, Virgo. To my knowledge she only had Taurus and Virgo, of course she would have recently acquired Aquarius from Lucy, but I wasn't sure if she'd have time to sign a contract yet. Either way. It didn't matter. I would defeat them all. A rage burned in me, white hot, I couldn't quell it, I couldn't control it. It was one thing for Lucy to have been kidnapped, another for her to be held up by her wrists for hours, but to torture her…. My raged scared even myself, but I let it burn, let it feed off the fires in my soul.

"You may have defeated Taurus easy enough. Do not expect the same from my Virgo. Virgo, punish him." Chimed Angel, behind the protection of her spirit.

"As you wish, my lady." Replied Virgo, a mischievous smile spreading across her lips. Virgo summoned two medieval maces from the celestial world. She began to spin them in a synchronized fashion, using their momentum to her advantage. I had to duck and roll to dodge her first attack. Her movements where mixed martial arts based, she was light on her feet, her combinations well-rehearsed. I sent a couple fire balls at her to test the waters, see how she'd react. She pounded one out of the way with her mace, and dodged the other. Interesting. I sprung backwards, hands over feet, landing softly a few yards away from Virgo. Virgo was charging up a spinning move, spinning like a top with her arms stretched out. I capitalized on the moment. I sucked in all the air my lungs could hold, I held my hands to my mouth to better direct the flames, I blew out a massive column of heat, fire, energy and electricity. The attack hit Virgo full force, but she didn't budge. Once the flames subsided, her face, hair and cloths were burnt, and the metal chain connecting the handle to the spiked metal ball of the mace had melted. The spiked metal balls fell to the floor in unison with a _clink_. Virgo looked up at me and blinked, then vanished.

I smiled then, I could taste the satisfaction of revenge. I closed in on Angel. I was vaguely curious if she was going to pull out Aquarius, it would be a risky move her. Aquarius's allegiance might still be with Lucy. Instead she pulled out Lucy's whip, it glowed purple in her hands, as opposed to the blue-green it glowed in Lucy's. "I'm going to need that back." I say calmly. Still advancing on her.

"Come and take it from me then!" She snarled. I had to admit she was fast. She lashed the whip out at my shoulder, the magic of it cutting open my skin. I glanced at my shoulder, amused. Blood was beginning to drip from it. "That's it dragonslayer! Bleed for me!" She taunted. She lashed the whip around at lightning speed, cutting my along my arms and legs. It was hard for me to gain a moment to retaliate. Admittedly she was better with Lucy's whip than Lucy was. Were as Lucy used it more like a ribbon dancer would, waving the whip out in front of her as a defense. Angel used it like a warrior, with trained precision. Still though…

She snaked the whip out straight at me, intending to slice my bare chest wide open, instead I smirked. I caught it, raveling the weapon around my right arm, yanking Angel closer. A look of panic set in on her eyes as she tried to pull away and couldn't. She had realized by now she was no match for me. As I neared the handle of the whip, the end of Angels arm, I summoned my katana with my left arm. Before she could take another breath I pulled her onto my blade, my sword sliced easily through her abdomen. She made a gurgling noise, I checked my sword upwards into her chest before using my foot to kick her body off my blade and onto the floor. With cold dark eyes I watched the puddle of blood beneath her spread over the reflective flooring, she coughed, more blood seeping from the corners of her lips before she stilled. I flicked my sword through the air to get rid of some of the blood on it before letting it disappear. I knelt down and yanked off the silk pouch around her neck, and unraveled the whip around my arm.

The room had fallen dead silent; you could hear a pin drop. All the fighting had stopped. Just as well, I had done what I came here to do. Laxus and Erza had had the upper hand in their matches, Grey's had been undecided. I didn't care. I didn't even look up to meet their faces. I stormed over to Lucy, who had been laying on a lounge room sofa, struggling to stay conscious. She tried to sit up as I approached, her mouth open like she was getting ready to say something. Based on whatever look I had on my face she closed it. Wordlessly I scooped her up in my arms and, without looking back, walked out of hotel lobby.


	9. Chapter 10

Chapter 9

The Girls Next Door

The car ride back to Fairy Tail was uneasy to say the least. We'd all piled into to Laux's sedan, nobody said a word the whole way back. Everyone was tense and stiff. Natsu held me in his lap, his muscles tense, his breath guarded, he barely even looked at me. I realized then that maybe I didn't know Natsu like I thought I did. I thought that I had seen him angry before, back at the hotel in Denver, but that was a mere fraction of the kind of energy he was radiating now. I was afraid of him. Gone was the Natsu from last night, who brushed his hands through my hair and ate my pizza crusts. This Natsu was a murderer. He was ice cold, a stern expression on his features. He had no hesitation, no remorse for killing that women. He hadn't needed to kill her to defeat her, he killed her because he _wanted_ to. Although I was right here, on his lap, he felt a million miles from me. I didn't know who this person was at all. I started to feel awkward being held so intimately to such a stranger, but I didn't dare move, I didn't dare breath wrong, let alone say anything.

When we got to our destination, Natsu stepped out of the car still carrying me like I was no more than a sack of groceries. I was pretty sure I could walk on my own by now, but I was too intimidated to ask him to set me down. The outside of Fairy Tail was breath taking, in any other situation I would have taken a moment to appreciate it. It was like a modern castle, situated in the middle of acres and acres of what had to be training grounds. The structure was made out of stone like a castle, but had large windows and angles indicative of modern architecture. The entrance was huge, oak double doors that were at least six inches thick. Laxus went up first, wordlessly decoding some kind of magical security before cracking open one of the doors. Still, without saying a word the rest of us filed inside. Inside there was other members of Fairy Tail, apparently waiting for us. I recognized Mirajane and Gajeel, but the others I didn't. Natsu set me down on the edge of on one of the many wooden dining tables in the room. He finally looked at me then, his eyes zeroed in on my face, his lips struggling to cover his canines.

"WHAT THE FUCK WERE YOU THINKING LUCY?! I TOLD YOU TO WALK STRAIGHT TO CLASS!" He was furious with me, roaring at me to the point where his breath moved my hair. The rest of the room was in utter silence, arms folded, watching. I flinched, my hands gripping the edge of the table. "YOU HAD TO DEFY ME DIDN'T YOU! I BET YOU DIDN'T EVEN TAKE ANY PROCAUTIONS DID YOU!? JUST WALKED STRAIGHT OUT IN THE STREET! YOU'VE RISKED ALL OF OUR LIVES TO GET YOU BACK BECAUSE YOU WHERE BEING A FUCKING IDIOT! YOU DIDN'T LISTEN TO ME WHEN I TOLD YOU…" He was right. He was totally right. This was all my fault. Had I just listened to him in the first place none of us would be in this position. I had stupidly overestimated my own abilities, and underestimated Natsu's knowledge of the situation. I had just thought he was being paranoid, when in reality his concern was totally justified. Had I listened, Natsu wouldn't have had to kill anybody. I didn't think I had anything left to cry, but tears welled up in my eyes. I didn't have a response, there was nothing I could say to fix this. He yelled at me some more, all I could do was look away, I wasn't strong enough to face him. I felt a shadow fall over me.

"I think she's been through enough today, Natsu." Said the tall, red headed women calmly, stepping in between us. To took my handle gently. "Come on Lucy, I'll show you to Natsu's room so you can get some rest." I stood up and followed her, my knees were weak but I was able to walk. I followed the women down a hallway off to the left of the main room. I tried to quiet my sniffling. As soon as we were far enough down the hall, and out of earshot the women turned to me, she had a soft, understanding expression. "I'm Erza by the way." She smiled weakly. Still sniffling, it was all I could do to just look up at her and nod. "Don't worry about Natsu." She chuckled awkwardly. "He's got a bit of an anger problem. He'll be back to the Natsu you know in no time. Promise." She put a kind hand on my shoulder. Her skin was so tan, so flawless. She was beautiful in a fierce, regal sort of way, with high cheek bones and long, toned limbs. "Let's get you a hot shower and in some fresh clothes." She led me to the showers.

The hot water stung the wounds on my wrists, as well as the welts on my back and legs, I did feel a bit better after I got to wash my hair though. When I got out Erza had left out a towel for me, as well as a pair of Nike shorts, a sports bra and a Balenciaga T-shirt. The shorts were a bit big, I had to roll them to get them to stay up, I was immensely grateful to have real cloths to wear. Afterwards Erza led me to Natsu's room, she told me good night and I went inside.

His room must have been untouched since the day he left. Obviously they had expected him to return, otherwise they'd have cleaned it out by now. His room was spacious with classical oak furniture, a four poster bed, floor to ceiling windows that looked out over an archery practice field. He had dirty clothes all over the floor, drawers were still left open with socks hanging out of them, his bed unmade. I felt myself drawn to picture frames on his dresser. There was some of him and Laxus with practice swords and shields even at a young age. There was one of him graduating high school, surrounded by members of Fairy Tail, some I now recognized. There was one of him and Grey after paint ball, and then there was one of him and some girl. They were clearly together, on a beach somewhere, his arm around her waist, she was looking up at him longingly. The girl in the picture had short silvery hair with the most astonishing aqua blue eyes. I felt a pit in my stomach. Did… did Natsu have a girlfriend? Was that why he was so reluctant to get with me? I heard a knock on the door.

"Come…. Come in!" I say, hastily as I set the picture back down on the dresser. The door opened.

"Hi, I'm Wendy." A girl about 17 or so walked into the room carrying a stainless steel tray of medical supplies. She was shorter than me, about Levi's height, with extremely long, silky, raven hair.

"I'm Lucy." I say, trying to make it look like I hadn't just been snooping.

"I know that." She smiled. "I. Um. Erza sent me to take a look at your wounds. I'm practicing healing magic, but I'm afraid I'm not so good at it yet. I know some regular first aid though if you want me to take a look?"

"Uh. Yeah. Sure." We went and sat down on the bed together. I held out my arms for her to inspect my wrists.

"Ouch. That looks pretty painful." She said, she dabbed some peroxide on to a cloth. I sucked air as she started to clean my wrists. "I'm glad to know that Natsu was with you while he was away. We were all worried about him. He's been in a guild so long, I don't know that he can make toast for himself, let alone survive in the real world." She laughed at her own joke. I cracked a weak smile, that sounded like Natsu. "He was practically raised here, so, he doesn't really understand the outside world. I just joined Fairy Tail last year so, guild life is all still new to me." She started wrapping my wrists, I winced at the pressure. "I'm afraid I'm not as good at magic yet as the others, but Grey says I'll get there! I hear you can do magic to Lucy! Is that right?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm. At least I was. A celestial wizard."

"What do you mean was? Aren't you still?"

"Well I lost my keys so…"

"That still means you're a wizard though. You just have to try a little harder to get them back!" She smiled at me, her face full of a youthful glow. "We're not all like Natsu, most of us have to work really hard to hone our magical abilities. Everyone's gotta start somewhere, ya know."

Meanwhile….

"Natsu! Upstairs!" Laxus ordered, jabbing a thumb upwards, indicating to meet him in his office. The absolute last thing I wanted to deal with right now was Laxus's bullshit, but he had just rallied the troops on my behalf, and I wasn't even a member anymore. Seething, I followed him upstairs. His office, by and large, a couple months into Guild Mastership Laxus had already redecorated from the time Makarov had had it. Gramps had always kept it an organized mess, books, loose papers and maps everywhere has consumed the small room before. I'd always envisioned Gramps as some kind of genius mastermind up here, and the mess sort of fit in with that mystique. While the basic furniture was the same, books where now neatly alphabetized on shelves, paper filed away, there was even a trash bag in the trash can, silver framed pictures of Lisanna on his desk. The same large framed map of North America was behind his high-backed chair with pinpoints pricked at the different known locations of certain guilds. "Natsu, have a seat." He gestured to the chair opposite his as he moved to sit down at his desk. I didn't move, I stood stubbornly in the doorway, my arms crossed. "Sit. Down. Natsu." He said more firmly. An order, not a request. I already hated this conversation. Arms still folded, I plopped down into the seat. "So…. I take it this means you're back."

"Back!? You act like I left out of choice!" Laxus cocked an eyebrow.

"Didn't you?"

"You know very well the Old Man sent me packing!"

"I don't think he meant forever. Besides, Grampa isn't in charge anymore, I am." This was interesting. The last thing I expected was for Laxus to concede. We were always at each other's throats ever since we were kids. He sighed, his tone softening. "I've been trying to get you to talk to me for weeks. The guild needs you Natsu…. I…." This was the first time I can remember Laxus talking to me this way, civil, like an equal, almost like a real brother. I raised my eyebrows in interest. "…come back Natsu." I didn't say anything. "What choice do you have!? You've just killed someone Natsu! As a free agent you'll have the Feds up your ass by tomorrow morning. As a guild member we can claim war!" He went back to scolding me again, like a child. I worked my jaw.

"….. That depends…."

"On what?"

I raise an eyebrow at him, knowingly.

"I can't do that; we can't accept her Natsu." I stood up, my chair falling to the ground in the process, I slammed my fists on the table. Laxus held his hands up. "Let me finish! Sheesh, why do you have to be so hot headed all the time! I'm not saying no. I'm just saying, I don't know her. I don't know what her abilities are, if she works well as a team. It would be irresponsible of me to just accept a wild card into the mist, especially because we're about to have a guild war on our hands, with members of the Oracion Sies no less." He gave me an accusing glare. I shrank back, guiltily. He sighed, massaging his temple. "I'll give her a trial period." I calmed, sliding my fists off the table. "…..But if she turns out to be a liability, Natsu, I'm not making any promises." I nodded firmly, understanding. Lucy couldn't be in the way, she would have to be able to stand on her own, take orders, not make any stupid decisions like she did this morning. "If she really means that much to you, which I'm guessing she does the way you stormed in here this morning, there's always another way the guild can offer her protection." He smirked at me then, his eyes twinkling, his laughter barely contained.

"How's Lisanna?" I asked. That shut him up right quick. His laughter melted into stone.

"She's fine. We're fine." My bastard of a supposed brother stole my girlfriend. Not that I cared anymore. I didn't. It was still the principle, the betrayal that lingered stale between us. Ordinarily a guild wouldn't have jumped into saving Lucy today like Fairy Tail did. I wasn't fooled. It wasn't because Laxus felt sorry for me, or brotherly love, or that they were all heroes coming to Lucy's rescue. No. It was Laxus's guilt that loaned me their aid today.

It wasn't long after Wendy left that I drifted off to sleep. My body had been fighting consciousness for so long, adrenaline the only thing keeping me awake, that by the time my head finally hit the pillow I was out like a light. I didn't hear him come in. I was only aware that Natsu was in the room when gentle fingers combed stray strands of hair away from my face. He leaned over and planted a kiss on my forehead. I blinked my eyes open and sat up slowly. It was still dark outside. I could only have been asleep for a few hours. Natsu was sitting at the edge of his bed, showered and changed.

"You need to eat something." He said softly, holding out a tray. It was a PB and J cut in half and a glass of milk.

"What time is it?" I asked groggily, rubbing at my eyes.

"Uhh.. like four in the morning." He said sheepishly.

"Natsu…." I started to say.

"Lucy, I'm sorry for shouting at you earlier. It's just…" He cupped a hand to my face, the pressure so light, the tips of his fingers where like whispers on my skin. "I was so worried about you. Got me all worked up. It takes me some time to cool off when I get like that." I was surprised that he was opening up to me like this.

"It's okay." I said, looking at my hands folded in my lap. "You were right. It is my fault. I should have listened to you Natsu, I should have taken you more seriously. It's my fault… that… that you had to…" I stammered for the right words, a lump was forming in my throat again. Don't get me wrong, that was an evil, evil woman. I had never seen somebody die before let alone be murdered, and I wasn't sure anyone deserved that.

"…What that I had to kill Angel? Don't worry about that Lucy, it's not like it's the first…" He caught himself. My eyes snapped up to meet his.

"It's not the first time you've killed someone!?" I say, horrified. Did I know this person at all? That's what I get for letting strangers into my home. Figures I would bring in an actual murderer.

"….No."

"How many people have you….?" I gasped. He looked away from me then, out the window as if looking at something off in the distance.

"Don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to." He said darkly. My eyes searched his face, searched for a semblance of the Natsu I had thought he was. I couldn't decide how I felt about it. If I chose not to hate him, what did that make me? There was a long moment of tense silence. Then he said. "I'm not saying that it happens in guild work all the time, but it _does_ happen, Lucy. People get killed, not all the time by accident. Guild wars break out. In a way we're soldiers, it's how the government can justify out existence. Besides, even if it was illegal… I don't know that it would have stopped me." He turned back to look at me, placing a hand on the back of my neck. "I couldn't allow her to live after what she did to you. I almost killed Sting, I would have had you not stepped in."

"About that! What was that about!? Sting was trying to help me!"

"I know…. I just… I saw you in his arms and I… snapped I guess…. I still might." He admitted, his jaw clenched.

"What!? No! I forbid you to kill Sting! No way! That's crazy, Natsu!"

"Lucy, he threw you off a balcony. I saw him!"

"So what!? He deserves to die for that!?" Natsu shrugged, his expression unreadable. Who was he? And, how many people HAS he killed? Would it make a difference? It should make a difference. "Eat your sandwich." He commanded. I didn't move, I could only stare at him in disbelief. He couldn't kill Sting; I wouldn't allow it. Sure Sting was an asshole, but he didn't deserve to die. Natsu sighed, relaxing. "Please." He begged. "It will make me feel better." I took a bite, realizing then that I was hungry. Starving really. I took a second.

Through mouthfuls of sandwich I ask casually. "So, you have a girlfriend?" He startled.

"What!? No!"

"Hmmm."

"Why do you ask that?" I pointed to the dresser. He scratched the back of his next and smiled nervously.

"Oh. Huh. That. Well. I haven't been back here since I left." My facial expression egged him on. "That's…my ex-girlfriend. Lisanna. We broke up a little less than a year ago." Interesting, then why did he still have a framed photo of her? He must still have feelings for her. It shouldn't have bothered me, but it did. "Listen Lucy, I spoke with Laxus and we both think it's a good idea for you to stay here for a while. Not as a member just as a… guest. At least until things calm down a bit."

"So does this mean you're back with Fairy Tail?"

"I guess." He shrugged like it was no big deal, but I could tell he was relieved to be back.

"I can still go to class though… right?"

"Uuhh. I don't know yet." I started to puff up, he hastened a response. "I'm not saying no. You just have to realize your life is more important than class and…" He didn't finish but I knew what he meant. I was a liability. If I got caught again, the others and Natsu would go after me again, risking their lives. That's why they've allowed me to stay. I hated it, I hated my weakness, I hated that I was putting others at risk, I hated that yet again I was being put in a box. At the same time, Natsu was right, I was in this mess in the first place because I didn't listen to him. "But hey!" He smiled. "At least one good thing came out of today!" He reached in his pocket. I was struggling to think what good could have possibly come out of today. He pulled out Angel's silk pouch and placed it in my palm. My keys! And… her keys. I looked at him.

"How can I?" How could I take a dead woman's keys? I mean taking Aquarius and Horologium back was one thing. I hadn't even won Virgo and Taurus fair and square on my own. Natsu had done it for me.

"What else are we going to do with them? Give 'em back?" He chuckled. I almost thanked him, and then realized I would be thanking him for killing the woman that had owned them. So instead I just stared at the pouch in my hand, unbelieving. I looked back up at him, speechless. He responded by kissing me again. His touch so light, so delicate, I could feel that he wanted more and was holding himself back. I was conflicted, I should be scared of him, I should want to run away, I should be revolted by the fact that he's killed one person let alone many! His fast violent temper should scar the shit out of me. The thing is, I wanted to kiss him back, so I did, whatever that made me, I kissed him back.

I woke up with a start after I rolled over and realized Lucy was no longer in bed. My eyes snapped open. Sheesh, maybe Lucy was right, I was becoming paranoid. She was standing in the window, her back turned to me, staring off into the lawn below. The morning light cascaded in through the window surrounding her in a halo, baby hairs that stuck out of her frizzy head shone highlighted by the contrast. She hadn't notice I was awake yet, so I took the opportunity to observe her. Who you are when you think no one's watching, that's who you really are. She stood there perfectly still, perfectly quiet, just gazing outside, deep in thought. I cleared my throat. "Good Morning!" I yawned getting out of bed.

She turned around to face me, her expression serious. "Natsu, will you teach me?" She asked in a calm and even tone.

I paused for a second. I had always thought that I would eventually help her mature some of her abilities. If she was going to use magic, she might as well know how to do it. But it also wasn't something to take lightly. As they say, _with great power comes great responsibility_. It would take a lot more than just some spells, to teach her properly, she'd need to learn how to shoot a bow and arrow, take up a sword, shoot a gun, learn martial arts on top of the magic. Through training she would never again be able to see the world the way she did now. She would be in danger all the time, her life constantly at risk. I didn't feel comfortable with it, I knew that my anxiety about her being out there, fighting for a living, would only get worse. I don't know what happened between the day I first met her on the street and now, but the thought of losing her was completely unbearable to me. Something I couldn't deny to myself any longer. But this was her choice to make, not mine, and if she was going to make it I would do my best to make sure she was well equipped. Slowly, I nodded. "It won't be easy." I warned.

"I know that." She said, turning to looking back out into the field. "But I can't keep living this way. I can't put you and others at risk because I can't take care of myself."

"I'll teach you." I promised. She finally turned back around to face me, her serious expression softened.

"Nastuuu." She whined. "I'm hungry." She changed her voice to sound like a 4 year olds and fluttered her sooty eyelashes at me. I laughed.

"Haha. Me too. Let's go get some breakfast." I got dressed and lead her to the main hall. Mirajane and Erza were serving up omelets this morning. Man, had I really missed this kind of service! Food was always available at Fairy Tail, one of the best perks if you ask me! And not just regular buffets either, fresh pastries, fresh fruit, bacon, you name it. I walked right up in line, got my food and thanked Mirajane just like I had done a thousand times before, as if I hadn't just been on a hiatus for three months. Lucy fell sheepishly behind me, copying my movements, aware that everybody's eyes were on her. Poor girl didn't know what she was in for. I went over and sat down at my usual table with Grey and Gajeel.

"It's nice to see you're feeling better Lucy!" Said Grey brightly, as he and Gajeel stood up at the table before she sat down. If they were going to keep up this well-mannered twat waffle thing going, it was going to get on my nerves.

"Uh yeah." She smiled weakly. "By the way Grey, thanks for breaking my fall last night, you know, with your ice…thingy."

"Don't mention it!" Grey beamed, puffing his chest out, all proud of himself for the one time he was somewhat useful.

"Oh, god. Don't tell him that Lucy. His ego will be inflated for weeks now." I tease, running a hand down my face.

"That's not all that'll be inflated." Commented Gajeel, rolling his eyes.

Grey slapped his hands on the table and stood up. "Why you!..." Grey, seething, went to punch Gajeel, who caught his fist in his iron hand and laughed. The boy-like humor between the two put a shocked and confused look on Lucy's face, which had me bursting out laughing.

"Can't you guys cut it out for one second!" Scolded Erza as she came by with her own plate of food.

"He started it!" Gajeel piped up.

"And I'll finish it!" Threatened Erza. Her tone made the two sit up straight in their seats. She then turned and said sweetly to Lucy.

"Good Morning Lucy, I see you're feeling better."

"Yeah, thank you for the clothes, and you know, helping Natsu come rescue me…" Said Lucy in a small, intimidated voice.

Erza laughed. "It's not like we really had a choice! I think Natsu would have burned this whole place down if we hadn't agreed to help." Lucy looked at me, her eyebrows crunched together. I shrugged it off. "Anyways, did you find out anything about this Sabertooth/Oracion Seis alliance while you were captured, Lucy?" Grey and Gajeel scooted to the edge of their seats, eager for Lucy's answer. I, however, shot Erza a nasty look. Give the girl a break, she just got tortured for Christ sake, let her have breakfast at least before drilling her with questions. But that's Erza for ya.

"…Uh… not really…" Said Lucy, thoughtfully. "Actually! She did say something about…. You Natsu, they want Natsu's blood for some reason." That was not concerning for me. They could try to get my blood.

"Really!?" Said Grey. "What else did she say?"

"Hmmm, she didn't really reveal anything else. She didn't say anything about what they wanted his blood for. Why would they need his blood anyways?" Replied Lucy.

"Dragon's blood. They want dragon's blood." Said Erza thoughtfully. "That hardly narrows it down though, there's plenty of ancient spells that require dragons blood, which spell they're intending to use it for could be anybody's guess. And since there are no real dragons left in existence…."

"Mines the next best thing." I say through gritted teeth.

"How did they find out that Natsu's first generation though?" Asked Gajeel. "Nobody here would ever reveal a secret like that."

"That's what I wanna know…." Said Erza fiercely.

Right then the large guild hall doors creaked loudly as they swung open. A woman with curly blue hair and vivacious curves, followed by the same girl that was in Natsu's picture, walked into the guild hall, soaking wet due to the rain outside. I hadn't realized that this girl had been in Fairy Tail, with Natsu, that meant her magic was probably better than mine. Natu's ex was beautiful in a very high fashion kind of way, she reminded me a lot of Twiggy. Her hair was cropped short in a pixy cut, but it did nothing to dull her femininity. Her eyes were doe like, and so blue they almost seemed to glow in the dim light of the guild hall. Everyone in the hall stood up to welcome them, myself included. All the sudden the blue haired, bodacious woman squealed like a teenage girl at a rock concert and bounded for Grey, hanging off his neck and say things like.

"Oh, Gray! It's been forever! Did you miss me?!"

"Oh. Uh. Hi, Juvia." Struggled Grey, as he tried, but failed to push her off. Her eyes locked on mine, a disapproving smear tugged at her upper lip.

"Who is this!?" She accused, indicating towards me but asking Grey.

"Uh, this is Lucy. Lucy, this is Juvia." Juvia let go of Grey to size herself up with me. We were about the same height, she was perhaps a bit heavier than myself, with hips that flared out to a generous booty. Kim Kardashian who? She narrowed her eyes and looked down her nose at me, I leveled my chin.

"Nice. To. Meet. You. Lucy." She said extremely stiff. "Grey, what is she doing here?" Juvia asked sweetly.

"Heh, It's a loooong story, Juvia. You may want to sit down…" Started Natsu, but then he was distracted. His ex had caught up with Juvia, she was now standing around the same table as the rest of us. She had on a blue cashmere sweater, that in my petty thoughts, clashed horribly with her army green corduroy's.

"Nice to see you're back, Natsu." She said in a silvery sensual voice. I watched Natsu dry swallow. "I was worried about you." She continued.

"Oh come on. I'm not that helpless!" Joked Natsu, he smiled nervously, his right hand reaching back behind his neck.

"I know. But still…." That's when she finally noticed me standing there. "Who's your friend here?" She asked, a plastic smile plastered onto her face. At that moment I really wished I had done my hair and make-up. I mean who wants to meet the ex-girlfriend the moment after having been tortured, then rescued by the whole squad, while wearing, clearly, borrowed clothing. Not ideal circumstances to say the least. I mean it's not like Natsu and I were an item or anything, but I also didn't like to be out done.

Not waiting for Natsu's awkward introduction I extend my hand out. "Hi, I'm Lucy!" I say brightly. She took my hand, her grip firm but not intimidatingly so.

"Lisanna. Nice to meet you, Lucy." She said sounding genuine.

"Nice to meet you too." I replied. Natsu was standing between us with a stupid grin on his face sweating fucking bullets. Ugh. Men! Am I right?

Laxus had just descended from whatever was upstairs. "Lisanna." Was all he said a little hoarse. Lisanna promptly abandoned our little soiree, and skipped over to him. Her movements where graceful and effortless as she leapt up into Laxus's arms, her legs wrapped around his torso. Laxus easily caught her, his mouth descending on hers. _Interesting._ I thought. _That sure explains a lot._ My gaze drifted to Natsu, who was avoiding looking at them at all costs. Instead he had turned his attention to a conversation between Erza and Juvia.

"Hey. Uh. Natsu?" I say, tugging on the sleeve of his shirt to grab his attention. "I need to go back to my dorm room to get some things. Can you take me?" He turned his attention back to me.

"Yeah sure, I can take you. Let me just grab Grey or someone to come with…"

"I can come!" Said Gajeel a little too eager.

I knocked on the door and opened it a sliver. "You two wait out here." I instructed Natsu and Gajeel. I slide into my dorm room, careful not to open the door too wide incase Levi wasn't decent.

"OH LUCY!" She exclaimed, scrambling off her bed to cling onto me. "I was so worried! When Gajeel texted me..." She stopped, slapping a hand over her mouth.

"So you've been texting Gajeel?" I say slyly, wiggling my eyebrows.

"Oh shut up!" She hissed. "And what's that about anyways!?" She pointed to the shirt Natsu had left on my desk chair. "Don't tell me you and…."

"I plea the fifth!" I say blushing, before she could finish that sentence. We both looked at each other and fell into a fit of giggles. Natsu knocked on our door.

"Hurry up in there!" He demanded impatiently. I quickly explained to Levi what was going on.

"Oh. And. Gajeel's here by the way." I say nonchalantly as I open the door. Levi's eyebrows shot up to her hair line and she quickly looked down to survey herself of what she was wearing. Too late.

"Hey Levi!" Said Natsu cheerfully as he walked into our dorm room and plopped himself on the futon like he owned the place.

"Um. Hey." Said Gajeel, standing in the doorway all bashfully. This was amusing to me. Normally Gajeel had such a tough guy attitude, he was always quick with a comeback and full of boy humor I didn't understand. In front of Levi, who was all of five foot nothing, he suddenly couldn't piece two words together.

"Uh. Hey Gajeel." She said all coy. Uh, huh, I see what's going on here. I dug out my suit case from under my bed and started jamming clothes in it.

"You might as well sit down Gaj." Supplied Natsu, oblivious from the tension in the room. "This is going to take a while." He said as he turned the TV on and crossed his arms behind his head. I grabbed my back pack and rooted around the room stuffing my laptop, necessary papers, books, pens, and binders in it haphazardly. I shoved all kinds of clothes into my suitcase, unsure of what I would need or how long I would be gone. I knew Natsu wouldn't grant me time to think about it, let alone fold them. I grabbed an old beach tote.

"Hey Natsu, help me with my stuff in the bathroom?" I pointed my head out the door and raised my eyebrows meaningfully, hoping that he'd get the hint. He didn't.

"Wha… why do I?..." I pursed my lips and shot him a fiery look he didn't dare argue with. "Alright, alright I'm coming." He conceded. After we made it to the bathroom, I started scooping armfuls of beauty products I deemed necessary into the bag, cringing with myself that I didn't have time to properly pack them. "What was that all about?" He asked, irritated.

"Levi and Gajeel!" I explained. "I thought we should give them a moment alone together."

"Huh?"

I huffed. "They met at the Victoria Secret party, I didn't see it but I'm pretty sure Gajeel kissed her and…. They've been…. Texting." I say suspiciously. An amused, wicked grin spread across Natsu's face. He started laughing maniacally and his eyes sparkled with plans of future harassment.

When we returned back to the dorm room Levi and Gajeel were sitting on her bed, both her hands enveloped in his oversized ones. They looked ludicrous together, Levi was about the size of one of Gajeel's arms. When I opened the door they sprung apart as though they'd been shocked. "Okaaay." I said knowingly, zipping up my bags. "I think that's everything!" Levi ran up and grabbed me round the middle.

"You better promise to give me updates every day! I'll keep you up to date on assignments. Oh, Lucy, I'm going to miss you!" And then her eye's zeroed in on Natsu. She stomped up to him, her finger pointed sternly up at his nose, her mouth in a fearsome scowl as she backed him up, flattening him against the wall. Natsu looked down at her wildly, his arms up in surrender. "And you! If you let anything happen to my best friend, you'll regret the day you've ever been born!" Natsu looked up at me for help.

"She's scary." He squeaked. Gajeel and I caught each other's eyes and stifled our laughter.

Back at the guild hall things quickly descended into shenanigans. Really, I had imagined guild life to be a lot of things, but never in a million years did I guess things would be this ridiculous. I believe it all started when Natsu stole a bit of Grey's Reuben, that he had specifically spent the past half hour crafting. Grey retaliated by dropping an ice anvil on Natsu's head, chaos commenced from there. Eventually, somehow, Gajeel got involved and it wasn't until Natsu smashed Gajeel through a table did Erza storm up and demand that they take it outside. This left me alone in the guild hall without anyone to cling to. Lisanna and Laxus were on a couch, all over each other. Cana, Wendy and Juvia were playing some board game, I didn't want to interrupt because I got the feeling that Juvia doesn't like me much. Mirajane was serving Erza cocktails from behind the bar. I figured that was my best bet. I took the seat next to Erza, who smiled at me.

"What'll it be?" Asked Mirajane cheerfully. She was so painfully perfect, perfect hair, perfect body, the kind of girl you want to hate but you can't because she's so sweet.

"Gin and tonic, please."

"Soooo, Lucy…" Started Erza, now that she started to speak I could tell she was a bit tipsy. I mean a little too tipsy for 4:00 on a week day. Something was up. "You and Natsu… what's the deal here?" Mirajane leaned in, listening intently.

"Uhh. What do you mean?" I asked, flushing. I really didn't know how to answer that. I didn't really feel comfortable talking about this kind of stuff with people I just met, and Natsu's guild mates to boot.

"I think she means like romantically. Are and Natsu, like a thing?" Clarified Mirajane.

"Oh. Uh. We're not exclusive if that's what you mean." I honestly didn't know what we were. We hadn't really had any kind of talk about…. Feelings. Sure we'd made out a couple of times and had sex once, but in this day and age that could mean a great many things. Sure, I knew Natsu didn't want me to die or get hurt, but that wasn't the same thing as _liking_ me was it? Surely he wasn't into my type. Not in a serious way at least.

"But you are _something_." Implied Erza.

"Oh, uh. We're just friends…. I think…" I supplied, at a loss for any other way to define whatever it was we were.

"Poor Natsu." Giggled Mirajane. "Already friend zoned."

"That's not exactly…" I trailed off. I didn't know if I could trust them with the intimate details.

"I've only seen Natsu that worked up a handful of times." Mirajane continued.

"Yeah, he transitioned pretty far yesterday." Said Erza sloppily, she was using her arm to prop up her head.

"When he gets worked up, his dragon side starts to take over." Explained Mirajane.

"Yeah, I know. I've seen it." Both Erza and Mirajane were startled by how casual I was about it.

"How many times?" Asked Erza cautiously, sitting up straight, her brow furrowing. I shrugged and sipped my drink.

"A couple." I admitted. Erza and Mirajane exchanged a worried glance. I was missing something. "Why? Is that not normal?" I didn't know anything about dragonslayers and how their magic worked. Sure, Sting never got scales or anything, but he also didn't have to use magic very often when we were dating. For all I knew growing scales and claws was an everyday occurrence.

"Lucy. Natsu well. When Natsu's dragon side takes over, he's not fully in control of himself anymore. If he were ever to transition fully into a dragon…. Well… there's no guarantee we'd ever get him back."

"What!?" I say, my mouth gapping open. "He never told me that!" Their earlier concern made sense. I thought about all the times Natsu had started to change form in any way, now that I thought about it, it was a lot. The first time was with the shadow demon, then in the hot tub, with the genie, in my dorm room, not to mention he was sporting scales all day yesterday until he came to bed.

"He wouldn't." Hiccupped Erza. She narrowed her eyes at me and leaned in. "And I've never seen Natsu like the way he was yesterday. You must mean a great deal to him, Lucy." Said Erza, before she hiccupped again, then her head flopped over onto her arms which were laid out on the bar. She passed out.

"Is she okay!?" I asked Mirajane, concerned.

"Oh she's fine. She always gets like this when Jellal comes around. Laxus put out a mandatory order for everyone to return back to the guild from their missions. With this guild war being both the Oracion Sies and Sabertooth, we're going to need all hands on deck." Mirajane leaned in and whispered the next part to me. "That means Jellal is due back any minuet. Erza and Jellal are in love but they're both in denial. They're being pretty dense about it if you ask me."

Right then the guild doors swung open on its hinges again. Two grown men walked in. The first was a rough looking, ginger man, in his early forties, he was wearing a cloak with a fox fur collar and had about a week's worth of scruff. The second man was Japanese with a well-tailored sports coat and a peculiar face tattoo. Wendy and Cana abandoned their board game to go greet them, Laxus raised a lazy hand as a welcoming gesture. Mirajane nudged Erza with her elbow until Erza groaned and raised her head. "They're here!" Hissed Mirajane. A horrified look fell upon Erza's face, swaying slightly she sat up straight.

"Quick! Lucy! How's my hair!?" Erza whispered.

"Hold on." I smoothed out a couple of pieces that had gone astray. "There." She was about to say thank you, but hiccupped instead.

"Come on Erza, snap out of it." Said Mirajane, handing Erza a glass of water. The man with the face tattoo came over to the bar. Erza tensed, I could practically see the hairs on her arm standing up on end, a stupid expression on her face.

"Hey Mirajane, you've got any good whiskey behind that bar of yours?" He asked.

"Why sure! Coming right up!" She said as she bustled about collecting ice and bottles. The man hadn't noticed me sitting there at all, he only had eyes for Erza.

"Erza." He acknowledged, inclining his head. She stared back up at him from her spot on her bar stool, unblinking.

"Jellal…" She breathed.

"Mirajane! Just the lady I've been waiting to see! Whatcha got on tap for me this evening?!" Exclaimed the larger ginger man, pounding and exuberant fist on the bar.

"I just picked up this new craft IPA if you want to try it." Said Mirajane as she served Jellal his drink.

"Does it come in pints!?"

"Only for you Gildarts!" She answered sweetly. The man, Gildarts, glanced to his right and looked at me with a start, as if he only just realized my existence. He turned to face me, leaned up against the bar, a hand on his hip.

"And who might you be lil lady?" He said. Gildarts was a man who was just past his prime, he had large, toned muscles and prominent masculine brow, wrinkles started to crease across his forehead, white hairs started to fleck in his hair and beard.

"Oh! I'm Lucy." I say, thinking that I was about to have to give further explanation, however Gildarts seemed to know who I was because he said.

"Wait a minute. Like Lucy? Like Natsu's Lucy?"

"Hold on! I'm not Natsu's anyth…" I got cut off.

"BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Gildarts doubled over laughing hysterically. His laughter echoed off the walls of the hall, he clamped his abdomen as if this level of hilarity physically hurt. I failed to see what was so funny. Was it something I said? "Let me get this straight, YOU'RE Lucy!?"

"Yes! I said that!" I retorted starting to get frustrated. Strange, this was the same reaction Gajeel had the first time I met him. Did I have something on my face? I didn't understand and I was starting to become offended. "Tell me! What's so funny!?" I snapped, hands on my as Gildarts was calming down however, the door swung open again and Natsu, Grey and Gajeel reentered. Gildarts gaze fell upon Natsu, then back to me, he toppled over in laughter again, whipping tears away from his eyes. Natsu came over.

"Hey Gildarts!" Greeted Natsu grinning ear to ear. At this point Jellal was trying to conceal his laughter as well, and Mirajane suspiciously turned around, her shoulders shaking. Okay, I was offended at this point. I felt like everyone was laughing at my expense and I was left out of the joke! I crossed my arms and pouted my lips.

"This!? This is Lucy?" Gildarts asked Natsu, a hand over his face as he tried and failed to quell his own laughter.

A guilty smile spread across Natsu's face. "Yeah… that's Lucy!" Gajeel had caught up, Grey had been intersected by Juvia.

"Oh, Man Gildarts! That's the same reaction I had!" Gajeel told Gildarts as Gajeel joined in the laughter, the two men holding onto each other for support.

"I don't get it!" I shouted. "What's so funny!?"

"Tell me, are you a Bridget or a Holly, you don't really seem like a Kendra!?" Exclaimed Gildarts, when his laughter finally dulled enough for him to speak. Highly offended and rage filled in my chest.

"I AM NOT A PLAYMATE!" I squealed. I had never been so outraged in all my life, I was so mad I couldn't even form words. It was all I could do to just sit there and simmer.

"It's okay Lucy. I know you'll find it hard to believe but he doesn't mean it as an insult." Said Natsu, stepping over to my side and placing a hand on my back. "Besides, they're not laughing at you, they're laughing at me."

"Huh? I don't get it."


	10. Chapter 11

**Chapter 10**

 **The Eye of the Tiger**

"You have to aim Lucy!" I told her as she drew back her bow for the eightieth time. Practice arrows littered the lawn haphazardly, few had even reached the target. We'd been at this for an hour and I could tell Lucy was already exhausted. She wasn't strong enough yet to pull back the bow string accurately, her arms shook and she stuck her tongue out of the corner of her mouth in concentration.

"What do you think I'm trying to do!?" She snapped, already frustrated with herself.

"Here let me show you." I nudged her aside and took the bow from her. I nocked the arrow, the bow was light, the tension on it weaker than I was used to. I had to be careful not to over draw, or else I would lose my aim. "Watch the tip of the arrow and…" I released the arrow. It zoomed through the air and made a soft _thunk_ as it imbedded into the bullseye. "…let your body do the rest! Try to aim for the target as a whole right now, after you do that, then change your position slightly to improve your accuracy." I passed the bow back to her and stepped aside. She took her stance, frowning in concentration, the knuckles on her right hand white as she death gripped the handle. She released the arrow, it sailed in an arch through the air sinking into the dirt just shy of the target. Sadly, this was an improvement.

"Aww come on Lucy! Can't you hit the target at least once!?" Chided Gajeel from the peanut gallery. She whipped around to scowled at him, I chucked while she had her back turned to me and abruptly stopped when she turned back around.

"Relax your bow arm." I coached. "Don't be so rigid. And remember, draw to the corner of your mouth not your jaw." She drew again, her eyes zeroed in, her breathing calm and regular. I knew she was going to nail it before she released the arrow. It wasn't perfect, but the arrow pinned into the yellow. Her eyes lit up and she had a sharp intake of breath.

"I did it!" she exclaimed

"You did." I smirked at her excitement, even though her improvement was mediocre at best. "Now, do it again. Just like that, except this time aim a little higher." Right as I was explaining this to her Wendy and Erza stepped onto the field, taking the target to the right of us. The last time I had seen Wendy practice was months ago, she had some serious promise back then. I was eager to see her progress, which was undoubtable under Erza's guidance.

Lucy took aim again. Her next arrow flew over the top of the target, she had over compensated. Right as Lucy was about to turn to me for feedback, Wendy let loose her first arrow. Wendy's arrow whistled through the air, hit the target dead center, then a small, hazy blue force field exploded on impact. The force field only lasted a couple seconds before it crackled like a firecracker out of existence. 'Ooo's and 'Aaah's sounded from Gajeel, Mira and Juvia, who were there to watch today's practice. Wendy's improvement was impressive, a few months ago she had only managed a couple sparks on impact. I turned my attention back to Lucy.

"Your form was better that time, see how the arrow had more travel? Try again, just aim for slightly above the bullseye rather than above the whole target." I instructed. After Wendy's little show, Lucy had tensed, I could tell that a self-consciousness had washed over her that hadn't been present up until now. Wendy let loose her next arrow, the force field that hit this time was strong enough to tip over the target. Lucy stared at it for a second, her lips melting into a down turn.

"Natsu…. How do I….?" She started. I reached out to comb some hair away from her face, letting her silky hair slide through my fingers, parting it slightly as the breeze had caused it to be a little tangled.

"We all start from somewhere, Lucy." I encouraged. I mean, I started when I was eight rather than twenty-two, but hey. "It just takes a lot of hard work and practice. You'll get there. Promise." I attempted to give her what I thought was a reassuring smile, but I felt like it came off cheesy. She set her jaw and determinately picked up her bow again. She was about to let set another arrow, I noticed she was still tense. "Breathe. Relax. Try not to think of anyone or anything else. Take your time. It's just you, your bow and the target." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. I could see the rise and fall of her chest as she took a couple seconds to let her body relax, concentrate on drowning everything else out. When she opened her eyes again she immediately let the arrow loose. It hit the target right on the lower edge of where the yellow meets the red, a single spark issued out of the impact.

"I did it!" She exclaimed, bouncing up and down. "I did it! I didn't even know I could do that! Did you see it!? Did you see the spark!?" She leapt for me, hanging her arms around my neck. I beamed despite myself, putting a hand on her back to settle her down.

"You did." I nodded. "Let's take a break and have some lunch."

"To retreat lead with your back foot first followed by your front foot, an advance is the exact opposite. Lead with your front foot, then your back foot… yeah just like that… good…. lean your knees over your feet a bit more."

"Are you sure this is right? It feels funny." Questioned Lucy, an eyebrow cocked. After lunch I had taken her to the fencing arena. I started her out with a foil, the lightest of the swords. The foil in my own hands felt weird and flimsy compared to Igneel's Fury.

"Yes, I'm sure this is right." I chuckled. She did look a bit absurd, her movements were so stiff and concentrated that she reminded me very much of a crab. I was struggling with getting her to relax, to feel the weapon and her opponent rather than focusing on one thing at a time. "Okay, try again." We were practicing lounges, the easiest, least complicated offensive maneuver I could teach her in a short amount of time. "Good." I praised as she poked the dull tip of her foil at my right pec. "Now when I lounge, retreat and parry…..yeah! Like that!" For several minutes we practiced like that, advance, lounge, retreat, parry. She was getting the rhythm of it down, hardly missing a move, but I could tell she was concentrating too much on the pattern instead of predicting my next move. To throw her off her next parry I countered by swirling my foil around hers, sending her weapon into the air, the balled tip of my foil at her throat. She stilled, her eyes on mine, chin level. "Sword work is like chess. You have to predict your opponents next movements. The longer you cross swords the more opportunity you have to learn about your opponent. Are they balanced? Do the rely more on speed or strength? Are they more cunning or brutish? What skills do you have that you can use to your advantage? Always. Always looking for an opening. If you see a hole in your opponent's defenses, try to corner them into that same position again, it's likely that hole will still be there." I lowered my foil went to go collect hers, handing it back to her handle first.

We sparred for a bit longer, I mainly taught her defensive maneuvers. I really didn't have time to teach her properly, but if I could at least teach her to block, it could likely save her life. "Watch my feet and my shoulders, they'll tell you what my next move is going to be." I had slowed my movements down to what I thought was slow-mo, apparently it wasn't enough because I still caught Lucy off guard more than I had intended to. Sweat started forming on her brow, and her breathing was rapid and irregular, but she was much better at this than she was at archery. I went to parry her next movement, at the last second she had redirected her angle and caught me in my armpit. I smirk tugged at the corner of my lip. "Clever girl."

Lucy stood across from me breathing heavy, her hands on her knees. Her long hair was frizzy from the humidity, baby hairs had escaped the pony tail, curling around her face and ears. "How do you make it look so easy?" She managed between gasps.

"My natural physical prowess." I teased arrogantly, flexing my biceps for her. She rolled her eyes at me.

"I think I'm done for the day. My arms feel like they're going to fall off and I can't feel my butt anymore."

"Want to test that theory?"

"Ha. Ha." She replied dryly. Although we've been sharing the same bed for the past few days, we've hardly made any physical advances despite that one time in her dorm room. She was only living in my room because the rest of Fairy Tail has kind of assumed there's more between us than there really is. Trust me, things were getting pretty awkward. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I minded having her in my bed every night. But it was also pure cruelty for my genitals. There was definitely an electric tension between us, I could tell by the way she sometimes looks at me, the way she stood next to me in the guild hall, the way she snuggled up deep in sleep. Ever since her capture however, there's been a certain distance, a distance that I didn't want to push based on recent events. She was becoming difficult to read, which, I'm not going to lie, only made the situation hotter. The only one that has caught on to the tension between us is Grey, that bastard's been making snide comments around every turn.

"Lucy!" Exclaimed Grey from our table as Lucy reappeared into the guild hall after having showered and freshened up. She had her hair up in a half pony tail, wearing a cropped college crew neck and high-waisted leggings. Grey stood up, wrapping an arm around her waist and ushered her to our table. Lucy took the gesture in stride like it was no big deal. I knew Grey better than that, I knew he was doing that shit to test me, get me to say something about it. Fucker.

"I heard you bested Natsu this afternoon!"

"Yup! Natsu's no match for my slick moves!" She joked, pretend karate chopping the air.

"Yeah… I'll bet he's not." Said Grey, wryly, a dirty grin on his face. I kicked him under the table. "So Luce, you going to 'S' class practice tonight?" Grey deflected.

"'S' class practice?"

"Within guilds there are different ranks, your rank determines what level of job you're a loud to take. In Fairy Tail, 'S' class is the highest rank; an 'S' class wizard can take any job they want. It's more for safety than anything else." I explained.

"Okay, so who are the 'S' class's?" Lucy asked.

"Laxus, Jellal, Gildarts and Erza."

"…And Natsu." Finished Grey. Thanks bro, way to throw me under the bus.

"You're 'S' class!?" Lucy whipped around. "You never told me that!"

"Loosely." Continues Grey. "Makarov was always threatening to revoke Natsu's title due to all the trouble he gets in."

"Will. You. Shut. The. Fuck. Up." I say through gritted teeth.

"What? Afraid I'll embarrass you in front of your girl….Ouch!" I kicked him hard on his shin before he could finish that sentence.

"You know what!" I growled. Grey was getting a little too big for his breeches.

"You don't have to kick me!"

"I'm confused. What's going on?" Asked Lucy, who thankfully seemed to have missed something.

"I kicked you 'cause you were being a twat!"

"What did you just call me!?"

"A twat!" I reconfirmed.

"Why you!" Grey flew across the table at me, both of us landing on the floor, wrestling for top position.

"Nice to see you're confident about our match Natsu, seeing as you have energy to spare." A voice above me said that could only belong to Erza. Shit. I didn't realize I was back in the lineup already. I pushed Grey to the floor, making sure to knee him in the gut on my way to my feet. Last time I spared with Erza, I ate it. Bad.

"Don't expect for me to make the same mistake twice." I taunt, folding my arms across my chest.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Erza chimed as she sauntered away.

Rain pitter-pattered off the roof of the pop up tent Mira and Gajeel had pitched in the lawn for the rest of us to watch the match under. I helped Wendy unfold the lawn chairs, already freezing in my light weight North Face wind breaker. "So, how do these things work?" I asked Wendy.

"Well the partners will pick a category, they can pick mixed martial arts, cage fighting, archery, sword work or strictly magical attacks. They used to be just all out brawls, but I guess Makarov decided we needed more structure after Gildarts and Jellal blew up half the guild hall a couple years ago." Wendy shrugged, pulling a soda out of a cooler Mira had set up, and plopped herself in one of the lawn chairs. I sat down next to her.

"Does anyone ever get hurt?" I asked, fascinated.

"Sometimes." Wendy admitted nonchalantly. "Mainly it's just a lot of nasty bruises, I did have to use some of my magic to patch up Jellal last time though."

"How do you become an 'S' class wizard anyways?"

"Simple. You just have to beat an S class wizard in a duel. You can challenge any of them at any time. Apparently right before I joined Gajeel challenged Natsu and lost pretty badly, he was still pouting about it by the time I came around." Wendy held a hand up to her mouth to conceal giggling at the memory.

"Who did Natsu challenge?" I asked, curiosity getting the better of me.

"Hmm, I don't know. Never thought to ask." Said Wendy, pensively tapping an index finger to her chin. A voice who had been eves dropping on the other side of me said.

"He challenged Laxus." It was Lisanna, she had taken the vacant seat to my left. I tensed, a little intimidated. Her demeanor was very poised, very Vogue to my Sport Illustrated. She had on a Burberry trench coat that I didn't even want to think about how much it cost, and a stern expression. I had a hard time imagining her with Natsu, who wasn't polished and was so spur of the moment. It was a lot easier to see why she would be with someone like Laxus, someone who was always put together.

"Oh." I supplied, at a loss of what else to say to her. Lisanna didn't bother a glance in my direction, instead she was focused on Laxus and Gildarts, who had entered together off the right side of the field, smiling and laughing.

"They're about to start." Lisanna stated, a smile finally cracking across her lips. I sat in my chair, still as a statue, afraid that anything I would have to say would be the wrong thing. This was Natsu's ex, sitting next to me, made more awkward by the fact that whatever my relationship to Natsu was, was kind of up in the air. This was the girl he had obviously loved at one point, if the picture on his dresser was any indication.

Laxus and Gildarts bowed to each other, each wearing some kind of martial arts robe that for the most part seemed to be repelling the rain. Their match took off then, Gildarts sent a roundhouse kick to Laxus's head, Laxus ducked under it and was able to take a jab at Gildarts ribs. "Gildarts can't practice his magic with anyone other than Natsu." Supplied Lisanna unprompted.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Gildarts's magic uses a lot of fiery explosions, it can be pretty damaging for the surrounding property. Since Natsu's magic is based in fire it's not as effective on him." Lisanna explained, I didn't miss the hint of pride her voice implied.

I nodded. "Makes sense."

"Whoa! That was so cool!" Exclaimed Wendy, clapping her hands together and standing up to get a better look. I missed it. Somehow Gildarts had brought Laxus to the ground, his legs coiled around Laxus's head. Their match went on for about 40 minuets, it was hard for me to tell exactly what was going on through the rain, and the speed at which they moved. Ultimately Laxus won, trapping Gildarts in such a way he had to tap out. They both rolled over and stood up.

"Not bad old man." Sneered Laxus as he held out a hand to Gildarts, who clasped it.

"Only took you 27 years." Smiled Gildarts, then they walk off the field together, arm in arm, bragging about themselves and talking about beers they'd share later on that evening.

"BETS! BETS! PLACE YOUR BETS!" Gajeel and Grey walked around the tent, holding up a jar that had folded bits of paper in it. Both of them, had sporting a mischievous grin as they came down our little isle.

"Oh! My money's on Natsu!" Said Wendy, leaping up, eager to place her bid.

"Mine too." Said Lisanna coolly.

"You two are crazy!" Laughed Grey.

"Yeah. No way. Erza wiped the floor with him last time!" Boomed Gajeel.

"And they're fencing, fencing is like Erza's specialty. No way. Natsu's got no chance." Said Grey.

"Something tells me things aren't going to unfold the way they did last time." Said Lisanna, defending herself, shoot me a sideways glance.

"What about you Lucy? Who are you betting on?" Asked Grey, a suspicious twinkle in his eye.

"Oh. Uh. I'm not betting." I say nervously, waving my hands in front of my face.

"Awww why not!?" Said Grey and Gajeel at the same time.

"I don't even know what kind of magic Erza uses. It would hardly be fair."

"What I'm hearing is; you don't believe in Natsu." Tested Gajee, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Not enough to put my money where my mouth is." I teased back. Grey flashed me a brilliant smile and said.

"Don't let him hear you say that."

Erza and Natsu stepped onto opposite ends of the field then. Grey and Gajeel scurried back to their seats, and a hush fell over the tent. Whatever this was, was about to be intense. Erza looked magnificent, she was wearing a deep red plated armor with a long sword that seemed to be made of matching material. Her hair was braided up into rows, and she walked towards the center of the field with all the regal grace befitting a queen. Natsu seemed uncharacteristically focused. He was shirtless, the rain water making the muscles on his torso gleam, his wet hair plastered to his head, dripping onto his face. He held his katana unsheathed, relaxed at his side in his right hand. As the both approached the center, they nodded abruptly at each other and bowed, never breaking eye contact.

"Flame Empress Armor." Whispered Wendy under her breath.

"Huh." I whispered back.

"Erza uses a kind of summoning magic. She can summon from an arsenal of legendary armor and weapons. She can even summon them directly onto her body! It's awesome!" Explained Wendy. I got a sharp kick to the back of my seat from Juvia who was seated behind me.

"Hush!" She scolded.

I turned to give her a nasty glare, but then whipped back around when I heard the first clang of metal on metal. The red and black blades flashed in a blur through the air. Both expertly timed, expertly blocked. The two wizards locked in deadly dance, equally matched. It wasn't until Erza sliced at Natsu's abdomen, only missing because Natsu sucked in at the last second, that it registered they weren't using practice swords. I gasped, caught on the edge of my seat. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Relax." Said Lisanna. "He's got this." She assured me confidently. Vaguely I wondered why she had so much stock in Natsu, was it because she knew him better than I did? Was it perhaps because she still had feelings for him?

Erza lunged forward, aiming for a jab at Natsu's right shoulder. Natsu advanced forward as well, but he leaned left out of the way and maneuvered his sword through a hole Erza had left under the right side of her left arm. A horrible metal on metal screeching sound told us that Igneel's Fury had made contact with the Flame Empress armor. Everyone in the tent audibly sucked in a breath, all of us locked in, fixed on the match. The rain kicked up, bringing with it an eerie mist. Water poured off of Natsu and Erza's heads, dripping from their blades as they engaged again. Their movements were faster than I thought possible, it took all my concentration to keep up, and I still missed parts. Although we were outside there being an odd stillness to the surrounding nature, no birds chirping, no wind rustling the leaves, no sounds of distant traffic. Other than the splattering down pour, beating like a drum against the roof the tent, the clash of swords and the labored breathing of opponents were the only sounds. It was like the whole world had stopped, there was nothing, nothing but these two in an empty field.

Natsu went to spin around out of one of Erza's attacks, Erza didn't hesitate, she swiped up ready to lash out at Natsu's back. Natsu caught her blade with his own by drawing his sword over his shoulder. Another horrible metal screeching as the wet blades slid off of each other. Losing no time Erza attacked, fiercely, arching her blade upwards, again, targeting for Natsu's right shoulder. Natsu's blade erupted into flames, making the katana look demonic and possessed. Using the leverage Erza's arch had given him, Natsu knocked the sword in Erza's hand. I had assumed that would be it. That was the end of the match. Instead a golden light spun quickly around Erza, casting her only for a split second in a goddess-like glow. When the golden threads of light slithered away Erza's armor was gone, as well as the sword Natsu had knocked loose. What replaced them is what appeared to be a kind of yellow cargo pants and a bandage bra. Instead of the strange red blade she had been using earlier, she now had a katana, although this one looked more traditional than Natsu's.

Erza came at Natsu with a new found speed and fury. Natsu often had to duck, or leap out of her way. I don't know how long they spared like that, what could have been hours seemed to transpire in minutes or seconds. They were both entirely focused, unwavering, immersed in a universe were only the two of them existed. Natsu's advantage in strength was met evenly by Erza's speed. Natsu was right, this was not a game of sword or skill, this was a game of wits. What had Natsu said?

' _Sword work is like chess. You have to predict your opponents next movements. The longer you cross swords the more opportunity you have to learn about your opponent. Are they balanced? Do the rely more on speed or strength? Are they more cunning or brutish? What skills do you have that you can use to your advantage? Always. Always looking for an opening. If you see a hole in your opponent's defenses, try to corner them into that same position again, it's likely that hole will still be there.'_

Like a light bulb, Natsu's strategy went off in my head. Twice now Erza had gone for Natsu's right shoulder, and twice now she had been bested. She had an opening when she made that move, the right side of her left arm…... all Natsu had to do was….

"Aaaggghh!" Cried Erza, her right arm clasping over a gash on her left, blood spilling over her fingers. She and Natsu stared at each other intently, chins level. Natsu lowered his sword to his side.

"First blood." Natsu stated. A shit eating grin breaking the tension in the air. "I finally did it! I finally bested you Erza!"

An equally snide grin spread across her face. "Yeah…. With my left arm."

"OH SHIT!" Exclaimed Grey, as if he just now realized Erza had been fighting with her left arm this entire time. Gajeel's laughter echoed into the sky, scaring away birds in a nearby tree.

"See. I told you." Said Lisanna, standing up and smoothing out the wrinkles of her trench coat. "Maybe you should learn to have a little more faith in him, Lucy."

"…All that jazz about model's having it rough is utter nonsense. I do it because I think it's great fun!" Replied Mira. I had just asked her what being a Victoria Secret model was really like. "I do think it helps being in a guild though. Keeps me humble you know." She said through a handful of fries. Fries. This woman ate fries.

"Wow that does sound awesome." I say putting down my beer. Apparently it's tradition to get trashed after an 'S' class match. Gajeel, Grey, Cana, Lisanna and Juvia were playing flip cup. Wendy, who wasn't old enough to drink yet, was playing chess with Jellal, and all the 'S' class wizards hit the showers.

"I can tell my agency about you if you want?" Continued Mira. I threw my hands, up turning beet red.

"No! No! I couldn't"

"Don't be shy! I see what you're sporting under those clothes." Mira teased, giving me a wink, the head of her beer sloshing over the rim of her mug as she nudged my shoulder with hers. "Come on! Don't tell me you've never thought about it!?"

"Well… over the summer I _do_ work at a sports bar I have to wear a uniform for."

"See! What bar!?" Mira exclaimed. I told her. "You're kidding! I used to work at that same bar when I was your age!"

"No way!" I exclaimed.

"Yes way! Actually… I think I still have the uniform…."

Maybe it was the beer, or that I was spent from today's events, or maybe it was because I was caught up in the thrill of making a new friend, but somehow I found myself in Mira room sorting through her clothes trying to help her find her old uniform. The room it's self was a girly girls dream. She had a king sized bed with satin sheets and a velvet, grey, pleated head board. Her end tables and dresser where mirrored, she had a plush peach colored rug in the center of her room with a large floral pouf on top of it. The walls were lined with gilt framed copies of her magazine centerfolds, and through a door off the left side of her bed was what I could only assume was the envy of the whole guild. Her own private bathroom.

"Hey. Mira?" I say, plucking up the courage for what I was about to ask her. "Can I ask you a question?" She popped her head out of the mountain of designer clothes that was her closet.

"Of course Lucy! What is it?" She said cheerfully.

"Lisanna…." I say simply.

"Oh. That." She said, returning to sorting hangers. "Why do you ask?"

"We just had an…interesting interaction at the match today. I'm trying to make sense of it."

"Well. Lisanna and Natsu were together for a long time, and they were best friends for a long time before that. Everyone, including Natsu, assumed they'd end up married one day."

"Oh." Was all I could manage. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach, I'm not sure what kind of answer I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't that. Seeing Natsu in his guild, as an 'S' class wizard no less, made me feel farther away from him than I had when it was just the two of us. All the sudden I felt nervous, and intimidated by him, when I hadn't before. Now knowing that things with Lisanna had been _that_ serious, made me feel stupid for even entertaining the possibility of any kind of anything with Natsu. "What happened?"

"Um. Well, it's kind of a sensitive subject within the guild." Mira took a pause from her searching to look at me. Something in my face must have goaded her on because she sighed and her eyes softened. "I'll tell you because I doubt Natsu will. Lisanna and Laxus somehow ended up going on a mission together, no one really knows what happened between the two of them on that trip but Lisanna came back acting all strange. Her and Natsu were starting to have issues anyways, that just seemed to be the icing on the cake so to speak. I'm not exactly clear on who broke up with who, but two weeks later Lisanna moved out of Natsu's room. Two weeks after that Lisanna and Laxus were pretty much an item."

"Wow." I said softly, letting it all soak in. "That must have been hard for him."

Mira nodded. "It was. And, you know Natsu. He doesn't exactly handle emotions well. He's either happy or angry, there's no in between."

I chuckled. "Ain't that the truth. So. Is that why he left?"

"What did he tell you about it?" Mira countered.

"Just that he didn't agree with Makarov appointing Laxus. Something about guilds not being meant to be monarchies."

"Oh, Natsu." She said almost endearingly, rolling her eyes. "Well I'm sure that was part of it. I mean, it was poor timing on Makarovs part, he should have realized…. Makarov made the announcement the day after Laxus proposed."

"What!?" I say, incredulous.

"Yeah." Mira gave me a knowing look like she agreed with me. "I mean we all kind of knew it was coming. Makarov had been hinting about moving to Florida, and he's been grooming Laxus to take over for years. Natsu acts like that was such a surprise, but I think the real surprise was how soon Lisanna and Laxus got engaged. Can't blame him. We were all kind of shocked." It all made sense now, I had always felt like Natsu wasn't telling me the whole story. Everything just seemed to click into place, the mystery solved. Why he acted the way he did. Why he had much contempt of Laxus. Who could blame him? Anybody would feel that way if the person who was supposed to be your brother stole your girlfriend. Why he left made total sense. What I was curious about is why he even came back.

"Do you think Lisanna still has feelings for Natsu?" I asked boldly.

Mira shrugged, returning to her closet. "I mean, even if she does, she's kinda made her bed don't you think?"

"I guess so."

"Speaking of Natsu. What's between you and him anyways. And don't feed me that _'we're just friends'_ bullshit like you did before."

Heat trickled down my ears and my heart started to race. Could I trust her? Was it wise to spill my laundry here? What if by telling Mira it got around the whole guild? How embarrassing would that be, especially if Natsu didn't feel the same way. At the same time, confiding in Mira was tempting. I mean, I had confided in Levi, but Mira knew Natsu better than I did. Maybe she could see my situation with a fresh perspective. "I. I don't really know." I confessed. "I thought we might have had something before coming here, but now that we're here I can't really say."

"Well. Have you guys talked about it?"

"Uh. No."

"Natsu can be pretty dense sometimes. You might have to give him a little shove in the right direction…. AHA!" Mira exclaimed twirling around and brandishing the uniform she had finally unearthed. Her gaze turned wickedly sinister, holding up her uniform to her body and admiring it in the floor length mirror. "And I have just the idea….. Want to go put yours on and give me a hand behind the bar tonight? Could be fun!"

What. The. Hell. Do. They. Think. They're. Doing?! Mira and Lucy were behind the bar, in matching uniforms, serving Gajeel, Grey and Gildarts, all of whom were practically drooling. Here I come back from my shower, fully expecting an entire evening where everyone recounts the details of my victory, only to be out shone by this atrocious scene. My mood promptly soured, those bastards. Naturally I had to investigate.

"NAATHU!" Slurred Gildarts, already hammered. "Look who finally decided to grace up with his presence!" Gildarts stood and waved his hand in front of his chest before dipping into a sarcastic bow. I playfully jabbed an elbow into his side.

"Cut it out Grandpa! Whatcha doing today letting Laxus beat you like that, eh?"

"Ahh circle of life! Even you will surpass the sensei one day, young grasshopper." He acted nonchalant about his loss, but I knew Gildarts well enough to know, deep down he was having a midlife crisis. "What are you doing without a beer!? Mira, honey, can you grab this fine champion a beverage?"

"Sure thing!" She came over to our spot on the bar, pouring into a pint sized mug out of the tap. Her outfit was almost exactly the same as Lucy's uniform, it suited Mira perfectly. Mira had always been appealing to look an, but man was she high maintenance. She once went on a date with George Clooney and I think he's the one that was left at the doorstep.

"So Mira.." Said Gildarts as he, not so smoothly, leaned his elbow on the bar. "Still waiting for that challenge." It was no secret that Gildarts has had a crush on Mira for a while now. He was always trying to get her to challenge him for an 'S' class trial. I think it's just an excuse for him to get closer to her. She had no chance, even I didn't choose to challenge Gildarts for my 'S' class trial for a reason. Interestingly she never exactly turns him down though.

"Hmm. I might now that you've finally lost to Laxus. I'd have a fair chance now!" She flirted back with him as she handed me my mug. "Seems to me you've lost your edge..."

Gildarts snorted. "No way baby! I'm still in my prime!" We both rolled our eyes at him.

Lucy's laugh drew my attention away from the both of them. Grey was leaning over the table to hold the ends of Lucy's hair; Lucy was leaning away from him laughing nervously. I don't know why but that enraged me. All I wanted to do was Spartan Kick Grey off his bar stool and wipe that stupid grin off his face, the only thing stopping me was social affect. "It's so soft!" Grey cooed, his hand inches away from Lucy's breast. He caught a glance at me out of the corner of his eye. That bastard. Lucy also shot a look in my directed and pulled away from Grey, her hair slipping out of Grey's fingers. She quickly turned around and busied herself making a drink nobody ordered. Grey sat back down on his bar stool and I walked over.

"Haha! Natsu! How does it feel to be bested by Erza again!?"

"You idiot! Were you even paying attention!? I won the match!" I say, puffing out my chest.

"Relax… he's just salty you lost him some coin." Said Lucy, turning around and handing me a glass filled with some kind of concoction she had made up.

"You bet against me!" I exclaimed. "Some best friend you are!" I took a sip of the cocktail Lucy had handed me, now double fisting. I had pretty much expected it to be syrupy and gross, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was strong with a citrus punch that wasn't too sweet. "Wow Lucy! This is actually pretty good!"

"Don't act so surprised." She said dryly.

"Whoa! Really!? Can I have one too Lucy?" Grey asked, overly excited about a stupid drink.

"Yup!" Lucy chimed. Grey winked and her, and she went about behind the bar regathering all the ingredients.

"What the fuck are you doing!?" I hissed at him, socking him in the shoulder.

"Ow!" Grey complained, holding his arm. "What are you talking about?" I raised my eyebrows and tilted my head in Lucy's direction. An evil smirk tugged at the corner of his face. "Oh. That. Well, I figured since you weren't doing anything about it, I would."

"Well cut it out!"

"What are you love birds whispering about over here!?" Interrupted Gildarts, wrapping an arm around both of us for support.

"Natsu's just mad he's got a little competition." Sneered Grey.

"Competition about what…...?" Started Gildarts. Right then Lucy bent over, searching for a clean glass in a lower cabinet. Her hair falling forward over her shoulders, a hint of her ass peeking out from under her skirt, her shirt riding up revealing a generous amount of her midriff. The curve of her hip, the smooth softness of her skin. I dry swallowed. My attention was regrettably dragged away by Gildarts heavy hand on my shoulder. "Aahh, Natsu, my boy, you are sooo fucked!" Chuckled Gildarts.

"I'm confused. What?" Asked Grey, oblivious. I knew what the old man was getting at, Gildarts had a dirty mind, even for my taste.

"I'm just saying, that girl over there." Gildarts jabbed a thumb in Lucy's direction. "She's got Natsu by the testicles pretty bad."

"Huh?" Said Grey, the conversation still going over his head.

"Ah! I'll tell ya when you're older kid." Said Gildarts, slapping Grey affectionately on the cheek. At this point Lucy had returned with Grey's drink and I prayed that she hadn't heard any of our conversation over the clinking of glassware from behind the bar.

The evening drummed on for hours. We played some drinking games, and raved to some music thanks to DJ Gajeel. Eventually Grey inevitably got pulled away by Juvia, Gajeel lost an arm wrestling match to Gildarts, and Mira and Lucy kept pouring us drinks. About 1:00am things started to wind down, the music got softer, the games stopped and the conversations lulled.

"Hey Lucy! We're out of lemons up front. Do you mind going to the kitchen for me and getting some more?" Mira asked Lucy. Lucy perked up.

"Yeah sure!" She lifted the part of the bar that was hinged and ducked under it. Suddenly Mira locked eyes with me and trailed her gaze off to Lucy, then back to me. As if to say ' _Go with her you idiot!'_. Alright, alright I can take a hint.

"Hey Lucy! Wait up!" I say, sliding off my stool and jogging to catch up with her. "I'll come with you!"

"Oh. Okay!"

After that we walked into the kitchen in an awkward, tense silence. The electricity between us was palpable. We walked together close enough that our arms brushed once. It was crazy to me how such a simple touch set my body on fire. Not literally, but you get the idea. By the time we made it to the large, empty kitchen my mind was going crazy, frantically thinking of something to say. Should I say anything? Should I just kiss her? I wanted to. There was such a distance between us, such an awkwardness that I was admittedly self-conscious the gesture wouldn't be welcome. "What did you think of the match today?" I finally settled for. She had made her way to the fridge, opened it and pulled out a sack of lemons.

"Hmm. I would say it was insightful." She said, her eyes meeting mine, twinkling with intelligence.

"Why do you say that?" My throat had gone dry. The fire in me begging me to just bend her over the counter and take her. My skin broke out in a cold sweat as I fought the urge. I was clammy and jittery being alone in the kitchen with her, and she was wearing that skirt I've been dreaming about sliding up her hips for months. For days we had been sharing a room, and that had been a slow torture sure, but for some reason right now lust had reached an intolerable level that could only have been fueled by booze. For a moment I got stuck, fixated on the gap between her shirt and the top of her skirt.

"Right before you won. I figured it out. I knew you were going to go for that hole Erza has on the right side of her left arm. You knew it was there a few minutes in didn't you?" She asked, she had caught me staring, and despite herself bit her lower lip. I took a step forward, pinning her between my body and the counter. I couldn't help it anymore, the fire in me was stocked, prodded on by her breaths, the way she nervously rubbed her knees together. Everything in my body just wanted to shut her up and shove my dick in her, the will of my mind the only thing holding me back. The world started to spin, not from the buzz of the alcohol, but from the effort. She didn't move, she didn't flinch, she just adjusted her gaze.

"Maybe." I teased, I wanted to be proud of her for catching on so quickly, but I was instead focused on the delicate hollow above her collarbone that was just visible from beneath her blouse.

"Anyways." She continued. "I think I've learned enough to be able to take you." She chided confidently. Her breaths becoming shorter, her heart beating faster. A smile spread across my face as I loomed over her, leaning in. She dropped the sack of lemons on to the counter.

"Oh yeah?" I said, more huskily than I had intended.

"Yeah." She breathed, her chin tilted upwards towards my face. I was so close I could feel heat of her breath on my neck, the hairs on my arms stood up on end.

"Let's test that theory, shall we?" I descended on her like a predator. Like the beast I really was. My fire making its demands impossible to disobey. My mind consumed by her smell, by her skin so velvety and soft that I was drowning in it. She leapt up my body to meet me half way. I put my hands at her waist to lift her onto the counter so I wouldn't have to bend down so far, her long legs wrapped around my torso. Unlike our little make out sessions before, there was nothing gentle or tender about these kisses. They were the act of a starving animal, and I was starved, starved for her. It seemed like she was just as hungry for me, her body arched against mine, her arms pulling on my traps to bring our bodies closer together. This wasn't just about sex; this was an emergency. I felt like I would die if I didn't have her, a wild urgency I hadn't experienced before. The fire going crazy inside me, barely in check. Not even bothering with her blouse I hiked her skirt up her waist. Oh fuck! She was wearing a thong. By the saints I didn't know how I was going to maintain control.

Her hands shook and fumbled on the buckled of my belt, in her desperate attempt to release me. I let her struggle for a minute, taking advantage of the time to try to cool myself off. I dug my fingers into her hair and plunged deeper into her mouth. My erection finally springing free, seeming to line itself up of its own accord. There were times for foreplay but this was not one of those times. I reached down to pull her thong to the side and without hesitation plowed inside of her. She cried out, I growled. My gums startled to tingle and my muscles became sore the way they did when I was transitioning. I froze, fear spreading like a disease through my veins. Because I had already done this before, I had given myself a false confidence that I could do this without hurting Lucy again. But I was wrong. I was so wrong. The dragon side of me wanted to fuck her as badly has the human side of me, and it was a constant grapple for who was in control.

Lucy started to writhe against me impatiently. I moved my hands to her hips to steady her, pushing downward slightly to secure her position. Bravely, slowly, I slid back out of her, leaving just the head in place. Before I lost my nerve I thrust back up into her. Lucy made a little moaning noise, and I gritted my teeth. She was so tight, so mind bendably perfect. Flames licked up inside of me, white hot, ready to escape… but they didn't. Every muscle in my body shook with restraint, clammy and nervous. I thrust up again and again, my hands around her hips pulling her onto my dick. Lucy's breathing was sharp and heavy, her whimpering becoming more desperate. God she was beyond perfect. This. This wasn't just sex; this was my salvation.

My rhythm became faster and harder as I was slowly building up my confidence to keep my furnace under control. I took a hand and wrapped a handful of Lucy's hair around it behind her back, pulling her head backwards, exposing her throat. I couldn't explain why but my eyes became fixed on a spot above her collar bone. My movements became even more rough as the fire started to escape my grasp, my vision blurring a haze of red. There was a screeching noise as the force on the impact started to scoot the granite island itself across the kitchen floor. My control was slipping through my fingers, but like a freight train, it was too late to stop it. The only consolation being the noises Lucy was making, and the fact that she seemed to enjoying it. I pushed her shoulders back so that she was lying flat on the counter surface, so that I could get a deeper angle. I fucked her raw, like an animal, like this was my only purpose, like I was pouring a bit of my soul into her. Her nails dug into my biceps as though she was clinging onto me for dear life as she writhed underneath me. My dick started to pulse, which seemed to set her off. Her insides started to close around my shaft, my red vision focused on the side of her neck, my teeth sharpening, the muscles in my shoulders and arms growing, the sane part of me was powerless to stop it. I sank as deeply into her as possible, practically climbing onto the counter with her. I was snarling as I started to cum, long jets of semen pumped out of me, and with it was all of my anger and frustrations, all my tension and anxieties. It was like I had melted back into a human being.

We were both gasping for breath, Lucy's death grip on my arms finally slackened. Slowly, she pushed herself up and I leaned my forehead against hers. Completely spent. I her kissed again, but this time it was more tender, more careful. "You know how long I've been wanting to fuck you in that skirt?" I finally managed, my breathing still labored.

"What took you?" She panted as I finally pulled out of her. Now that our bodies were separated I took a step back at the horror of what I had almost just done. I had lost control. Like I knew I would, and I did it anyways. I pulled my pants up. It was only by some miracle that Lucy was alright. I was afraid of myself, afraid that after this mind boggling session I knew I would want more. Afraid that like this time, the flames would find an outlet. Afraid that next time, Lucy wouldn't be so lucky. Lucy noticed that something was wrong. "….Natsu? What's wrong?" She asked, hopping off the counter and shimmying her skirt back down.

"Are you…. Are you alright?" I asked, grabbing both her shoulders and crouching down to look at her straight in the face. I needed her to be okay, I needed her to tell me she wasn't hurt. She searched my faced, concern for me flooding her features.

"Yeah. I'm Okay. Why? What's wrong?" Her brow furrowed and she looked confused, and maybe a little hurt at my reaction.

I ignored all her questions. I scooted the island back into its original position, and grabbed the sack of lemons off the counter. I took her hand in mine, trying to reassure her without words. "Come on." I sighed. "Let's get to bed." Luckily there was no one left in the hall, everyone else had gone to bed already. Poor Mira never got her lemons, though I had a sneaking suspicion Mira knew what she was doing.


	11. Chapter 17

Chapter 11

The morning after, I was in the twilight zone, drifting in and out of sleep. Lucy was curled up on my chest, her hair sprawled out over the bedding, the first rays of morning light filtering in through the curtains. I would have been content to lay there forever, in the moments before I was fully conscious, I was at peace. As per fucking usual the universe was playing with me, teasing me with the possibilities that could never become my reality. It was only a moment, a brief blip in the great eternal expanse that was time, only there was my life permitted to be perfect.

I was jolted into full awareness. There was a loud destructive crash that came from somewhere inside the guild hall, promptly followed by someone shouting of orders. Before Lucy was even up right, I was out of bed and pulling on a random pair of dirty jeans that were on the floor. Her eyes where large with worry. "What was that!?" She gasped.

"I don't know." I frowned. "Stay here." I ordered as I slipped on a T-shirt and slid out the door. I was jogging halfway down the hall before I head the click of a door closing behind me. Begrudgingly Lucy hadn't listened, she had put on clothes, and was running to catch up. Before I could yell at her to go back, Laxus had rounded the corner, panting, by the look on his face I knew to expect the worst.

"Natsu!" He exclaimed. "They've found us."

I nodded in understanding. The padding of Lucy's footsteps told me that she'd caught up to us. "Who'd they bring?" I asked, frowning in all seriousness.

Laxus was

off a dark haired woman with crazy eyebrows, who was countering Erza's double swords with fists full of some type of holographic magic. As I watched, Juvia had jumped in to help Erza, capsuling still trying to catch his breath. "Midnight, Sting, Yukino, I think Racer, Minerva and… Brain… Natsu… there's somethings something off about him… I can't…"

I didn't miss Lucy's sharp intake of breath at the mention of Sting. I wasn't surprised, we had his brother hostage after all. "I'll take care of Brain." I told Laxus, and I was about to take off before Laxus pivoted to address Lucy. I halted. Cold. He better not…

"Lucy, I know you're not technically part of the guild yet, but we'd really appreciate your help today. We out number them, but it still won't be easy."

"No!" I growled at him. "Laxus! She's not ready!"

"She's got three gold keys Natsu. She is ready. Besides, it's her choice!"

Lucy ignored me again and nodded once to Laxus. "Of course. I'll fight." A determined look set upon her features, and she squared her shoulders. I turned to Lucy.

"You don't have to do this Lucy. There's no shame in being scared, this isn't your…"

"Natsu…" She said, icily. "You guys risked a lot to come save me. What kind of wizard would I be if I turned my back now?"

A huge hole had been blasted through the roof of the main guild hall. Splinters of wood, drywall and plaster covered all surfaces. The scene we walked into was total chaos. Erza was using two swords to fend the woman in a swirling sphere of water. Grey and Gajeel dueling Sting and a recently liberated Rogue. Mira had transformed into bizarre, sensual demon, her left leg already injured. She was fighting who appeared to me to be a young Tim Curry, who was using a suspicious kind of green energy. A girl about my age, I recognized as Yukino was using her key Scorpio, who was sending a sand storm in Wendy's direction. Wendy countered he attack with her own gust of wind, rending the sand neutral as it rained down onto the floor. Lisanna was facing an enemy I couldn't see, she was swiping at flashes of red and yellow with her cat paws, hissing as a slice somehow appeared on her cheek. The most horrifying of all however, Jellal and Gildarts, facing a stacked man whose rough age was hard to identify. He had the body of a bodybuilder, but his face was leathery and wrinkled, the shoulder length silvery hair that framed his face gave him a gaunt, ghostly appearance. Most startling of wall was his eyes, they shone out of his face like lanterns, a blood red.

Gildarts grunted, he pounded the ground with his fists sending a shockwave towards the terrifying man that had to have been the man Laxus referred to as Brain. I could see what Laxus meant, there was something off about him. His eyes, they didn't seem right, but it was also his movements. They seemed too calculated, programed rather than thought of. Gildarts shock wave rippled through the guilds hardwood floors, tossing furniture in its wake. As the wave approached Brain, he simply flicked a hand upwards in front of him, redirecting the wave upwards, splintering the beam Erza was balancing on. Luckily Erza thought fast and grabbed hold of some more railing above her head, before the beam she was standing on crashed to the floor. Brain retaliated with green and orange whip-like tentacles that Jellal blocked with a galaxy patterned force field that shielded the attack from himself and Gildarts.

"Jellal! Gildarts! Go help the others!" Commanded Laxus as he and Natsu stepped in front of them to face off with Brain. "We've got it from here." Jellal nodded and trotted off to go help Grey and Gajeel who seemed to be on the wrong end of their fight. Gildarts looked reluctant, he eyed Natsu and was about to have a comeback when the Tom Curry looking motherfucker caught Mira in the face. The force threw her to the ground where she pushed herself to her hands and knees, spitting out blood. No further encouragement from Gildarts was necessary.

"You've messed with the wrong guild!" Said Natsu through a mischievous grin, as he let himself burst into flames, using the blasts from his feet to rocket launch himself at Brain, fists blazing. A frenzy of static electricity started snapping and crackling around Laxus. To my left I heard a shrill scream. Wendy.

I had been standing still too long in a kind of daze. Deer in the headlights. Frozen. Unsure of what to do or how to act. There was so much going on, I was overwhelmed. What do I do? How do I help? Then my gaze followed Wendy's scream. Scorpio had Wendy pinned to the floor with his feet, his scorpion tail cocked back, preparing to string her. Seeing Wendy in trouble, sensation returned to my limbs, my heart started to race. I unholstered by whip, lassoing it around the tip of Scorpio's tail, catching it just in time. Scorpio whipped around, furious at whoever or whatever had thwarted him. He pulled on the end of my whip, dragging me across the floor. "Why you little!" He sneered. I reached into my pouch, fumbling around of the right key, but there was no way. I would never be able to summon in time.

Rather than sting me with his tail like Scorpio had been preparing to do, a force suddenly pushed him forward and he landed in front of me flat on his face. Behind him was Wendy, who was regaining her balance after she had delivered a double kick to the back of Scorpio's head. Wendy cracked a weak smile at me and I was about to thank her when.

"YOU!" Wailed Yukina, her eyes locked on mine in sudden realization of who I was. I spun around to confront her. Wendy had to react fast, caught up again in a battle with Scorpio, she had summoned her own sword, a kind of short styled rapier with what looked like swan feathers for a guard. "YOU'RE THE BITCH THAT KILLED MY SISTER! YOU'RE THE REASON SHE'S DEAD!" Screamed Yukina. That hit me like a ton of bricks. I hadn't technically been the one to kill her, but I was the reason she was dead...in a way... I had a pouch jingling full of her dead sister's keys, keys that rightfully belonged to Yukina. Yukina's eye's where wild, her white bangs casting an ominous shadow over the rest of her face. "You'll die for what you did to my sister!" Yukina snarled. Was she right? Did I deserve to die? No, surely not. I may be the reason Angel was dead, but it's not like I planned it to happen that way. I wasn't the one who shoved a sword through her belly. It's not like I'm the one who tortured her, or kidnapped her, or let her hang by her wrists for hours. Rather than respond, I whipped out Virgo's key. An insensitive move, but the right one.

"Open! Gate of the maid!" In a tornado of golden celestial dust Virgo appeared. This was the first real time I would be using her, apart from when I summoned her to sign a contract. Virgo looked completely different for me than she did for Angel. Rather than her maid outfit containing leather and fish nets, she had on petticoat, and a white lace bow that tied her pink hair up into a bun. Summoning Virgo only seemed to infuriate Yukina more, her eyes narrowed and her scowl deepened.

To my shock she held out a second key. Wait, no. That is impossible. She can't possibly summon two spirits at once, that's unheard of! Apparently she could. She pulled a golden key from a utility belt around her waist. Pisces slithered into existence, two fish-like serpents, one black as night, the other a snowy white. A huge explosion behind me shook the entire building, windows shattering, I could hear Laxus and Natsu shouting to each other but I couldn't make out what they were saying, and I didn't have time to look. Virgo had engaged with Pisces, spinning her maces in each hand, fending off each snake they continually attended to slither up her body and constrict her. Everything turned to hell in a hand basket.

Wendy was just barely fending off Scorpio's sting attacks with the blade of her rapier. Rogue had caught Gajeel in a cage made of dark shadows, the walls of the cage shrinking smaller and smaller as Gajeel tried to gnaw at the bars with his teeth. Jelall and Grey were working together to subdue Sting. Grey had frozen his feet to the floor and Jellal was placing a force field on top of him. I couldn't see Mira or Gildarts as one of Gildarts attacks caused there to be a crater in the middle of the room and their fight was commencing down inside it. Erza was locked in a fierce sword battle in the rafters, Juvia assisting by using water attacks to slow Erza's opponent, which only seemed to be moderately helpful as all the dark haired woman had to do was emanate a blast of energy and Juvia's water would rain down on the rest of us. Lisanna was losing badly, her right eye was swollen shut and a nasty bruise was spreading on her abdomen, her attacker still too fast for me to see. We may have them out numbered, but we didn't have enough power to take on two guilds at once. We were losing, and I didn't understand what that meant. What could I do? How could I possibly tip the scale?

"L..Lucy! Princess!" Chocked Virgo as Pisces had wrapped around her, pinning her arms in place, starting to constrict her. I did the only thing I could think to do, I cracked my whip repeatedly on Pisces skin, hoping to cause enough pain that they'd slacken their grip.

"Let. Her. Go!" I pipped. I'm not sure how effective it was, but it at least turned Pisces attention to me. The white snake uncoiled itself from Virgo and headed for me instead. This was all the release Virgo needed, she hammered her mace down on black Pisces's side, the spikes of her weapon sinking into the snake's eely skin. Both Pisces started writhing around on the ground, as if they both where in pain, an earsplitting screeching from both of them.

 _Click_

Behind me, out of the corner of my eye I could see Yukina, her arms out stretched. Slowly I turned around, the barrel of a turquoise and silver gun pointed in my face. I was greeted by the coal black expression on Yukina's features. It felt like an egg full of icy hot had been cracked down my spine. My mind racing a mile a minute. This wasn't it. This couldn't be the end. Not like this. My eye's darted around at my options. Virgo was still finishing off Pisces, Wendy had just been back handed across the floor by Scorpio, and I doubted I would be able to lash out my whip faster than a speeding bullet. I raised my hands up in a slow surrender, my brown eyes level with Yukino's hate filled ones.

A fiery comet erupted out of the sky, slamming Yukino to the ground. A shot fired out of the gun into the ceiling as Yukino hit the floor. Natsu was like a god of fire as he fearlessly ripped the gun out Yukinos grasp, he placed the barrel of the gun in his mouth, and like the beast he sometimes was, ripped the barrel of the gun off its handle with his teeth like he was pulling a piece of meat off the bone. He then spat it out and tossed the handle to the side. He bore down on me then, the look he gave me was scarier than the gun that had just been pointed at my face.

"Lucy! Go! Now!" He demanded, his entire body still engulfed by flames.

"No!" I stated stubbornly. What was he crazy!? Like I was just going to walk away!?

"Lucy…" His growl threatening.

"No Natsu! I'm not leaving! That ridiculous! Who do you think I am!?" It felt strange to have this fight in the midst of utter chaos. Grey just got pushed through a wall beside us, Wendy had just sliced the backs of Scorpio's knees, a burst of water rained down on us, sizzling into steam as it came in contact with Natsu. Natsu, however, didn't appear to be all too concerned with any of it, his eyes on me, his eyebrows pinched together. We stood there, staring at each other in a Mexican stand off for a long minute.

"NATSU!" Shouted Laxus from somewhere behind me, but I didn't dare break this stupidly little staring contest to look. What kind of person did he think I was? Obviously he thought I was the kind to runway whenever there was any real danger. The kind of person who would leave her comrades to save herself. I was a lot of things, but I certainly wasn't a coward. The fact that we were even having this conversation was and insult. Finally, he sighed and acquiesced.

"Fine." He said stiffly. "But take this!" In a swirl of golden light, he summoned his sword and shoved it into my arms.

"No Natsu! I can't! You need this…" But he was already gone. He had taken off on his rocket feet back to fight Brain with Laxus. Laxus was bleeding badly from one of his ears, but he was still fighting, using some kind of attack that caused lightening to be rained down on his enemies. Natsu added to Laxus's attack by sending some kind of magical spell in the shape of fiery hieroglyphics at Brain. Brain chose to counter Natsu's attack with his own form of purple symbols, but got hit full force with Laxus's lightening. The lightening singed some of Brains hair, but otherwise was unfazed.

My attention got pulled back to my own battle, Yukino pulled herself off the floor, her arms shaking, the right side of her face and body covered in soot. I held my whip with my left hand and Natu's katana with my right. Unlike the foil I was used to practicing with, the Katana was a little too awkward and heavy for me to wield one handed, the tip of it kept wanting to tilt downwards. Virgo and Wendy finished off Scorpio and Pisces simultaneously. Both fading back into the celestial world. The edges of Virgo started to blur and I could sense that she was fading, her time here was up.

"My Lady…" She said, shooting me a worried expression.

"It's okay Virgo. You did great. Thank you for your help!" I told her as she faded away. Wendy scurried to my side, standing shoulder to shoulder with me. "Are you alright?" I asked her. She had a nasty scrape on her right bicep and thigh from when she had been backhanded earlier. She nodded.

"And you?" She asked. I nodded.

"YOU!" Wailed Yukino. She had reached a new level of madness. "YOU WILL NOT DEFEAT ME! THOSE KEYS BELONG TO ME HEARTFILIA!" Yukino's eye's bulged, spit flying from her mouth as she talked.

"You want them? Come and take them!?" I taunted. I didn't know where this new found courage was stemming from. Maybe it had to do with the comradery I was feeling towards Wendy. Maybe it was my thirst to prove myself. Maybe it was because Natsu thought me incapable. I shrugged my right arm, trying to get myself used to the weight of Natsu's sword, and flexed my whip hand. Ready.

Yukino pulled out two more keys, a gold and a silver. Four keys in one day! This woman really was mad as a hatter! I couldn't figure out where all this energy was coming from. How was she doing this? It was impossible! I got my own key at the ready, Taurus. This was my last hope, I wouldn't be able to effectively summon Aquarius without a body of water, even if I did have the energy to do it. At the same time Taurus appeared, Caelum and Leo did. I lost track of what happened next, all I know is that Wendy was caught up with Yukino, her rapier to a pair of twin daggers Yukino pulled from somewhere on her person. Taurus was swiping his battle axe at Caelum, and missing quite frequently. I was being taunted by Leo. Leo darned a golden suit of armor, lion ears sticking out of the top of his head, a greedy smile on his face.

"Do you really think you can take me little girl? Don't think I'll go easy on you just because you're cute."

"Wouldn't dream of it." A commented back, refusing to let him intimidate me.

Leo attacked first, shooting wisps of purple magic at me. I twirled, striking one with my whip and slicing through the other with the sword.

"Good! That was just a test. You passed! Now time for the real deal!" Laughed Leo. I tried to take advantage of his arrogance and stab him through the chest, but he was too fast for me. He caught the blade in his armored hand and yanked it out of my feeble grasp, then used my own attack against me by butting the handle of the katana into my sternum. I fell back, the wind knocked clean out of me, gasping for a normal breath. He tossed Natsu's sword to the side. I was severely over powered and Leo knew it, he was toying with me. He went to swipe at me and I made the same mistake I did with the shadow demon. I stopped the blow by coiling my whip around his forearm, and just like the shadow demon, Leo used this move to his own advantage. He tore his arm away with such force my fingers slipped from the whip. What Leo didn't realize however, was that I somehow, luckily, by the fates of the gods, landed next to Natsu's sword. I felt Leo's shadow loom over me and knew that he was gearing up to finish me off. My plan was to whip around at the last second, impaling him with the sword….

But it was not to be. Out of nowhere comes Natsu, using the armor on Leo's chest like a springboard to launch himself back at Brain. Two birds, one stone I guess. Natsu's kick sent Leo to his ass, quick like a flash I roll over, stood up and brandished the sword at Leo's throat. Unconcerned he smiled at me. "A little overconfident are we?" He swept his feet under mine, causing me to fall painfully on my left knee. Cheese and rice that hurt! Before I knew it I was in a poorly matched battle with Leo, my whip still dangling, useless from his forearm. I used Natsu's sword two handed, able to do nothing but block. A few more times Natsu had stepped in, which was starting to get annoying at this point. I had appreciated it when it actually helped, but most the time he was butting in to defend me against blows I was already prepared to handle. Plus, he was constantly putting himself and Laxus at risk by continually abandoning his own fight to help me. I even tried to tell him so, but he ignored me.

"God Dammit! Natsu! Focus on your own fight!" Boomed Laxus, as had just been caught on the wrong end of one of Brains attacks, using the back of his hand to wipe blood off his lip, after about the sixth time Natsu had deserted him. We were all losing out battles. I could hear Erza's labored breathing above me, blood starting to drip randomly from the rafters. Wendy seemed to be faring pretty well but Taurus was losing, Caelus was far too fast for him, he had thin, deep cuts all over his body. I had missed it but Lisanna was been rendered unconscious, and Laxus ended up having to leave Natsu to go take care of whoever it was Lisanna had been fighting. Grey, Gajeel, Sting and Rogue were still at it, though, strangely it almost seemed like they were enjoying themselves. Ugh. Boys. Don't they realize the severity of the situation here!? Jellal jumped in to Wendy and nobody knew where Gildarts and Mira where.

There was a loud _crack_ and without warning, Juvia crashed to the floor, flat on her back in front of me, raining down water and chips of wood. So much of the guilds structural integrity had been damaged, and it was in danger of collapsing, but nobody had time to worry about it. I dashed to go cover Juvia, make sure she was alright. I heard Leo powering his fist canon's up, I had no time to react other than to crouch over juvia, and throw my arms over my face. Predictably, Natsu zoomed in at the last second, grabbing Leo's arm and redirecting it, the blast that shot out of his arm hit Gajeel instead. Natsu, didn't stop there, he kept twisting until there was an audible snap. Leo yowled….

Like I sixth sense I turned my attention towards Brain, who had only been fighting only Natsu at the time, no one else to distract him. I don't know why, it was like I knew it was going to happen before it did.

Time seemed to slow dramatically. I felt vibrations of the crunch in Leo's arm as I broke it. His cries of pain seemed to be too low pitched and drawn out for time to be happening at real speed. The hairs on the back of my neck pricked up, my heart beats pumping into my ears, skipped a beat. I whipped around behind me for what I already knew was too late. Brain held out his palm out stretched, beaming out of it a red laser that sailed through the air straight for me, a strange red electricity snapping around it. The laser was aimed sear straight through my back. But it didn't.

"NOOO!" I screamed for what felt like an eternity. My heart stopping, a rock lodged in my throat. Lucy had dived, in the nick of time to save me, but it was too late for her. The laser seared right through the flesh of her abdomen out the other side, in a small explosion of blood and flesh. I tried to catch her, but even in the strange slow motion state I was in, I was too late. She fell to the floor in a heap on her side, a pool of blood already forming beneath her. The aftershock of the strange red electricity caused her body to convulse, but she made no sound. No screams of pain. Not even any voluntary movements of her muscles. Her eyes snapped open, all you could see was the whites of her eyes. I felt like I was drowning, falling, sinking, into what I didn't know. All I knew was that it was better than being here. Anything, anything was better than this. It was better than feeling what I was feeling, an emotion too strong to face. Like the coward I was, I plunged, and yet something…. something was coming to the surface in my absence.

Life returned back to normal speed. And in the blink of an eye the tables of this battle had been turned. Brain had just sealed his own fate. My body erupted like lava out of a volcano. The arches of me feet grew at an alarming rate, my ankle becoming a hock. My skin becoming scales. My nose becoming a snout. My body exploded. Growing rapidly in size, I had to duck my head to avoid hitting it off of the few remaining rafters. I roared, sharp teeth flashing, spittle flying from my mouth. Beneath me everybody had stopped, in awe of whatever it was I had become. Wendy fell to her knees, tears welling up in her eyes, her hands clamped over her ears to drown out my roars. Laxus, who had been holding Lisanna, gingerly set her down. Grey and Gajeel, open mouth gaping.

"MWUAHAHAHA!" Chuckled Brain. "This! This is what I needed! Come on Natsu Dragneel, come on out!"

I realized I was no longer in control of my own body when my arm… or was it my front leg? Reached out and plucked Brain off the ground, squeezing him like a tube of toothpaste in my grasp. Without any indication from my brain, my head lunged forward and ripped Brains arm off with my teeth. Blood spewing out of his arm socket, and pouring down the sides of my mouth. Starting to become horrified about how much I had lost control. I had become a bystander in my own body. I started to chew Brains arm. He grunted in pain at first, but the grunt gradually shifted to another laugh.

"It's just an arm Natsu. Arms, legs… heads… they can be replaced…"

I felt something sharp on the inside of my palm…claw? Out of a purely visceral reaction I dropped him. He had sliced my enlarged hand open, large globs of blood splattering onto the floor. Blood still squirting out of the place his arm had been, Brain held a knife in his mouth, and a test tube in the other, letting the blood trickle down the blade and drip into the test tube.

"Looks like we got what we came for." Grinned Brain crookedly. I growled, snapping my teeth and swiped at him again, but came up short. He just disappeared…. vanished. As a matter of fact, so was all the other members of Sabertooth and the Oracion Sies, disappearing with a series of small popping noises. The members of Fairy Tail silently taken aback by the sudden victory. Everyone except for Sting, his appearance disheveled, thick tears spilling over his red puffy eyes.

"LUCY!" He was screaming. "LUCY!" His voice hoarse from the effort. He tried to sprint for her but was stopped by Grey.

"You can't! You can't Sting! You have to leave!" Gray was pushing Sting back linebacker style. "He'll kill you! Go! Go with Rogue!"

My mammoth head turned towards Laxus. This was such a strange feeling, it was like watching a movie, or being on a ride at Disney Land. I could see and hear everything, but I was powerless, powerless to command my body to do anything. It was like someone else had taken over the controls. I was sinking, sinking into a void unfeeling, a place where only instinct mattered. Laxus was dashing for something at my feet. My instinct reaction was to step over whatever it was, and for some reason, I was careful not to step on it. I confronted the puny man called Laxus. I growled at him, snapping my teeth.

"Natsu…" He said, looking mildly hurt. "Natsu… we have to get her help! She might still be alive!"

Something in me churned, but my body wasn't having it. Several times the puny, insignificant, human Laxus tried to duck around my head. Each time I met him, my lips curled over my teeth in a lethal snarl.

"NATSU YOU IDIOT!" He started shouting at me, losing his temper. "You're the reason she's in this fucking mess in the first place! She's going to die! Now step aside and let us try to save her!"

I roared at him my most ferocious roar, crouching low over whatever it was I was protecting. All I knew is that whatever it was, I wasn't letting Laxus have it. The man Gildarts appeared, placing a gentle hand on Laxus's shoulder.

"That's not going to get us anywhere." He corrected calmly. "Let me handle this. No offense, but we need to cater to Natsu's good side right now." Laxus stiffened, folding his arms over his chest, he didn't fall back but he didn't argue. The man Gildarts shrugged off his cloak, letting it fall to the floor. He held out his hands, palm side up, he moved towards me in a slow methodical method, as though he was trying to tame a wild horse. The rest of the guild stood around in a semi-circle, a sea of mixed emotions, waiting with bated breath. He spoke to me in low relaxed tone. "It's okay…. It's okay. We're not going to hurt Lucy; we just want to take a look. Can we take a look? Will you let us?" Lucy…. Lucy? Why was that significant somehow? I stopped, I didn't growl, I didn't move, I waited. He continued working his way closer, I let him. I could tell that he was nervous, his upturned hands shook, his heart pounded rapidly in his chest, his armpits and forehead perspiring. "We're going to be careful. I promise. But she's going to die if we don't help her now. Understand? You don't want that right? We're not going to hurt her; we're not going to hurt you. It's going to be okay." Gildarts continued to coo.

He gestured a hand to what was beneath me. I crouched back on my haunches to see what it was. It was a girl. I was protecting a girl. She was laying, unmoving, in a puddle of her own blood. Recognition slammed into me. Lucy. This was Lucy. That was significant. I was swimming, frantically trying to reach the surface. Gildarts said we could save her. I realized I wanted that. I was treading water, fighting whatever it was that was trying to push me under.

"Wendy. Do you remember Wendy? She's going to help us." Gildarts waved over a small girl, Wendy. The girl stepped forward, tears streaming down her face, hiccupping. She approached, her leery eyes on me. Her steps hesitant.

"Gildarts!" Said the woman Erza sternly, showing concern for the girl.

"Sshh! It's okay Erza…. Stay where you are! He understands… I think..." He looked up at me for reassurance, I didn't give him any. My body and mind were jockeying for position.

"Gildarts… I. I don't think I can..." Stuttered Wendy, unsure of herself as she got a closer look at Lucy.

"Listen to me." Said Gildarts, clasping is hands on her shoulders and kneeling down so that he was eye level with her. He started whispering to her hastily under his breath, Wendy nodding every so often. "…at least try." I caught him saying as he stood up.

"Natsu…" Said the girl Wendy as she approached me, shaking like a leaf from head to toe. "….I'm going to do what I can for Lucy now, okay?" I managed to nod my colossal head. Wendy knelt down beside Lucy, the knees of her jeans becoming soaked in Lucy's blood. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, hovering her palms over Lucy's body, performing some type of scan. Suddenly her lids flicked open. "She's alive!"

The experience was impossible to explain, it's like all my conscious thoughts were being sucked through a straw. I was winning. My body began to shrink, I commanded my fingers to flex and watched as they obeyed perfectly. With consciousness came a price. A tidal wave of emotion flooded every corner, invaded every cell. My heart filled with sorrow, my veins with dread, in my stomach a heavy terror.

Wendy worked feverishly, her mouth mumbling spells at a million miles a minute. Her hands hovering over the hole in Lucy's body, a pale blue light emanating from her hands, a sweat worked up on her brow. I watched as Lucy's insides where sown back together, organ tissue growing rapidly under Wendy's guidance. Gildarts crouched beside her, rubbing her back and feeding her words of encouragement.

The more I watched the more my scales retreated back into my human skin, my claws became nails, fangs became teeth. I fell to my human knees on the opposite side of Lucy. My heart felt like it had been ripped out of my chest, all that was left was this raw cavity. I would have done anything to help Wendy succeed. Anything. I would have chewed off my right arm if it would have made any difference. Instead I could only watch fervently, the hollow feeling in my core growing. Lucy was impossibly pale, her breathing was slow, shallow and way too infrequent. Her skin cold to the touch.

I could tell Wendy was tiring. Her muscles were shaking from exhaustion and she started to sway. She had made it through Lucy's organs and was working on the muscle layers. Wendy almost fell over from exertion, but Gildarts caught her in his arms and propped her back up again.

"Gildarts! That's enough!" Ordered Erza stepping forward. Jellal put a hand on her shoulder to stop her, which she shrugged off. She was about to come storming forward to Wendy's rescue when her gaze met mine. Erza stopped cold. A fire blazed in my eyes, daring her to take another step.

"Erza!" Pleaded Jellal, grabbing her arm, trying to coax her back. For once, Erza listened.

"Wendy." I said, my voice thick and raspy. Her eyes flitted up to meet mine. "Please." I begged. Wendy nodded determinately and went back to work for several long minutes. The layers of Lucy's skin flying back together seamlessly. Right as the last layers of dermis where laid down Wendy collapsed, unconscious into Gildarts arms. In the same moment Lucy's eyes opened and she rolled onto her side in a coughing fit. I had never in my life been so thankful to hear someone cough. My heart started beating again and I finally let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"..N…Natsu…" Lucy wheezed, her eyes squinting open. She started to lean up on her elbows, wincing in pain. I rushed to relieve her of that burden. I snaked my arms under her, helping her to prop herself up, holding her close to my chest, tears of relief threatening to spill over. I laid on the floor with her, holding her, reveling in every beat of her heart, every intake of breath a victory.

The rest of Fairy Tail had sprung back into action around us. Laxus discussing furiously on the phone with someone. Gildarts had passed Wendy off to Erza, who was about to go all mama bear on him. Mira had cleared off a couch that had somehow survived and was tending to Lisanna on it. Grey was helping Juvia walk over to a chair to rest. Jellal was bandaging a wound on Gajeel's chest.

"Wha…. What happened?" Asked Lucy, her voice weak and strained. How do I tell her? How do I begin to explain? How can I phrase any of this in a way that wouldn't stress her out more?

"Nothing." I tried to say in as soothing a voice as I could muster. "You're okay. Everything's going to be okay." I said more to myself then her, gently smoothing out the hair on top of her head.

"You're crying." She stated, her eyes widened in concern. A weak, shaking hand reached up to caress my face. Her hands were still so cold. I turned my face to kiss the inside of her hand. "Natsu… I'm so tired." She yawned, letting her head lean against me.

"I know."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Laxus

Saying it had been a long day would have been the understatement of the year. I was sitting in my office, beyond exhaustion, my eyes crusty and dry, pouring over blue prints of the guild hall. I was trying to figure out what all needed to be repaired before the contractors I hired showed up tomorrow. There was a knock on my door, two staccato wraps, a knock that was becoming all too familiar even in the short span of time I've took up the title of Guild Master. I took a deep sigh and massaged my forehead, more than a little annoyed whatever it was couldn't wait until morning. "Come in!" I acquiesced, knowing that it was Erza and that she wouldn't be denied.

"Hey Laxus, it's been quite a day hasn't it? I noticed your light was still on so I…" She said as the door swung open, revealing Erza standing in the doorway. I gestured for her to come in. She was wearing a Versace robe, her long crimson hair, still damp from the shower, pulled up in a ponytail. Even at 2:00 in the morning after a day like we've had, Erza was something to behold. No matter what situation we manage to get tangled up in, Erza is somehow always able to hold on to a kind of mystical grace and dignity. She's the kind of women that's never caught with her skirt up. There's a lot of things I admire about Erza, her fierce loyalty, her resolve, but these little trips to my office where becoming way to frequent. She seemed to think that because her voice was louder, it was somehow more important than the other guild members. Sure she was one of the guilds "S" Class wizards, and while that held some weight, Erza was pushing it. I'm the new guild master, not her, and while there are times I appreciate her counsel in earnest, there are also times like these.

"That it has. More of a rough week actually." I said, when I didn't offer her a seat Erza stepped in anyways, letting the door latch behind her. Through a yawn I asked. "So what can I do you for?"

Her expression hardened. "What are your plans regarding Lucy?" Well, at least at this hour, the women didn't waste time beating around the bush.

"What do you mean?" I wanted clarification.

"I mean I know you've offered her a grace period. Well that grace period is up, time to make a decision." She said firmly, and by the tone of her voice I could tell which side of the coin she was on. I was annoyed by having to explain myself to her, this wasn't Erza's decision to make, but she was right. We were firmly at war now, one of the more significant threats that's faced Fairy Tail over the last century, and we couldn't afford to have weak links. Lucy either had to be with us, or not at all.

"You're right, I did give Lucy a grace period, and you're right. That grace period is over." I looked up from my blue prints to lean my elbows on the table and lace my fingers together. I gave Erza the courtesy of my full attention, or at least what was left of it at 2:00 am.

"…So you're sending her back to University right? Where she can grow up and live a normal life away from all of this?" Prodded Erza sternly, daring me to disagree.

Behind Erza, underneath the door passed a shadow that retreated and stopped. We were no longer having a private conversation.

"Actually." I said, scratching at my abnormally long, for me anyway, facial hair. "I was going to give her a choice."

"You can't be serious!" Said Erza aghast. "That girl is a liability Laxus!"

"I don't see it that way. Today Lucy showed us a great bit of courage and resourcefulness. Her work with Wendy today showed us that she can be a team player, follow orders and above all else that we can trust her when the going gets tough. I have no fear that if I where to send her out on a mission with others, she won't abandon ship when the going gets tough. To me that is a vastly more important quality in a wizard than one's skill set."

"Gosh you sound like Makarov! She had to be saved by Natsu several times today! Putting you of all people in grave danger in the middle of battle! Besides that, we can't afford for Natsu to be injured or worse! Natsu being out of commission makes us all too vulnerable for my liking. Especially given our current situation. Surely you agree!?" Unlike Natsu, Erza is perfectly capable of having an intelligent debate without getting over heated. With the grace of a queen she seated herself in the chair opposite me.

"I agree with you, without Natsu… we're all at risk. He's an asset we cannot afford to lose. However, as for Lucy needing to be saved, I'm not so sure about that. That may have been more Natsu's faults rather than Lucy's."

Erza frowned. "How do you mean?"

"I mean that, from where I was standing, Lucy was doing just fine on her own. Sure she fumbled a bit and some of her methods are unconventional, but these are all things that can be fixed with a decent education. It was Natsu's fear of Lucy becoming injured that put us all at risk, not Lucy's skill level."

"Don't you see Laxus! That's precisely what I mean!"

"Why are you fighting so hard for this Erza? I thought you seemed to like the girl?"

"Don't get me wrong, I like the girl I do. You're right, with a fair bit of training she'd be a fine asset to our guild. But the way Natsu has acted ever since she's been in the picture worries me." She leaned into me and lowered her voice to a dull whisper. "Natsu has been transforming more than usual. Before he would get a little scaly from time to time, but this…this is different Laxus. Lucy, the other day she told me that over the few months she's known him, she's seen bits of him transform several times! Several! That's way more than usual! And then you look at what happened today! Laxus, I was so scared; I was scared we wouldn't be able to get him back! You saw him, what he was like that, he didn't know who we were, who Gildarts was! And if the government finds out what he is… what he can…."

I cut her off.

"Once he has started to make these changes he's not going to stop. You're right. He can never go back to the way he was before, that is behind us now. I know your concern, that he's going to get stuck that way. That he's going to be stuck as a dragon. His transforming in the future in evitable, our strategy up until now has been to help him contain the monster within, but maybe we were wrong. Maybe we need to be focusing on how to help him stay in control. I believe as Makarov believes that we have to find him something, a path, back to being human. Something that means enough to him to be anchored to his human side. Perhaps Lucy is the answer…. perhaps not. Regardless with her going back to University, I can only see that making Natsu more unpredictable, not less."

"Maybe initially, but give him a few weeks and he'll get over it. She's just a girl Laxus, it's not like Natsu hasn't had girlfriends before." Said Erza darkly. It was no secret that she disapproved of my relationship with Lisanna. That never came as a surprise to me, Erza is forever the spokesperson for honesty and justice.

"Like I said Erza. He will never go back to how he was before, even with Lucy gone. It'll become easier and easier for him to slip now that it's happened once. Natsu has always lacked a good healthy dose a fear, there's never been a situation he can't just blast his way out of. Combine that with his hot headedness, it's been quite the chore cleaning up after him all these years. But more than that it's dangerous, not just because of what he is but who he is. You think it's just the government that will be after him? Try anybody that's trying to cast a powerful dark spell! What happens when other countries find out him? What happened today is only the beginning. That's what this girl does for him, for the first time in perhaps his whole life Natsu is afraid. And that's what I need him to be, I need him to be scared so that he'll be more careful. My hope is that by having her here it'll make Natsu think before he acts a little more. So you give my any opportunity, any at all that will help me reign my brother in, I don't care who or what it is!"

"So what you're going to use her as a tool to control your brother!?" She said in a disgusted tone. The shadow underneath the door shifted, by process of elimination I was trying to figure out who it would be eves dropping on our conversation. I had a hunch, but I couldn't be certain.

"Didn't you hear me say I was going to give her the choice? I'm not going to force her, this is a dangerous line of work and she'd be entering into our guild at a very dangerous time, it wouldn't be right of me. If she chooses to walk away, I'll let her."

"After that big speech? You're just going to let her walk away!?" Erza asked incredulously. Apparently reasoning skills where better than I thought.

"If that's what she wants." I conceded. Erza nodded, I could tell she didn't exactly approve, but also didn't have any better suggestions.

"You better talk to her sooner than later then. If she's really going to become part of Fairy Tail, then I need to start training her for real."

"Can't argue with that."

Erza stretched her arms out and yawned. "Well with that settled then, I guess it's time to hit the hay! You should get some rest yourself Laxus, you look rough!"

"….Thanks Erza… Goodnight." As her chair scooted backwards on the carpet, the shadow under the door disappeared. Hmmm.

Lisanna was still sound asleep, exactly the way I'd left her hours prior. Knowing her she'd probably be bed ridden the next couple of days with Wendy out of commission. I sometimes feel like our guild can be a little reckless with our injuries, knowing we have Wendy around. Lisanna fights with all she's got but when she's done, man she is out! I climbed into bed next to her and tried to get some sleep, my mind kept wandering. Wandering with concern for Natsu, concern for the future of our guild, for everyone. Eventually I was able to sleep for a couple of hours, by 6:00 am I was awake again. Apparently my brain was only going to allow me the minimum amount of rest by body required. Lisanna was still sound asleep and the rest of the guild hall was quiet. I got up and bustled around the partially destroyed kitchen to make two cups of coffee. Of course the outlet had been destroyed, so I had to use my own power to work the coffee maker. I walked down the hall headed to the room of the one person, if my calculations where correct, that might be awake. I knocked on the door with my foot, my hands being occupied by mugs. Before she opened the door I took stock of my own appearance. I smiled to myself, Erza was right, I was becoming more like Gramps than I knew. My disheveled appearance, my old green robe unfasted over my pajamas, using a hot beverage as a peace offering. I looked eight-four not twenty-seven.

"Hello?" Lucy said as she opened the door to Natsu's bedroom, a little shocked to see me of all people.

"Want some coffee?" I asked with as warm of a smile as I could manage.

"Uhh… Yeah." She said uncertainly, opening the door wider to let me in. "Natsu's not here… I don't know where he…"

"That's okay, I didn't come to talk to Natsu, I came to talk to you." I figured I might as well get this out of the way before everyone else wakes up, and before Erza blabs to someone else. Plus, I knew that Natsu would be off being moody somewhere, and I wanted the chance to talk to Lucy by myself. I wanted her to make her own decision, and not be influenced by Natsu's.

"Oh you did?"

"Yeah, have a seat." I gestured for us to sit on the edge of Natsu's bed together. I handed her the mug of coffee and she took a long whiff of it before she took a sip. This was the first time I had seen Lucy without any makeup, and to me at least, she was prettier without it. She was in a frumpy band t-shirt, leopard print pajama bottoms and her ponytail was lopsided. Without makeup her skin was dewier, she eyes brighter, she was more…. real this way. Lucy normally was such a Barbie doll it was hard to tell what she looked like beneath all that. Before it didn't make sense to me, why Natsu would be so infatuated with such a girly girl, it just didn't fit his character. Seeing this side to Lucy however, it started to make more sense.

"Okay so… what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Lucy.. I wanted to offer you a place in Fairy Tail. I don't know if you've really thought about it much, and I know guild life is a different path than the one that you've laid out for yourself. But I want you to know that we'd welcome you here, you seem to get along well with some of the others and I really think you proved yourself yesterday."

"Really!? You really think so!?" She looked from her mug up at me, her eyes all shiny. For a moment she smiled so bright and big, I almost returned it.

"Yeah I mean, even without any formal training I'd say you held your own, certainly better than most wizards who haven't had a formal education in combat."

"Thanks!" She said, but that was it. Her earlier delight at the offer had melted away almost as soon as it had appeared. I could tell she was thinking.

"So how about it?" I prodded.

"How about joining us in Fairy Tail? You don't have to live in this dump." I indicated all the mess that was always Natsu's room. I swear he could clean it and within the hour it would be just as messy again. "We'll get you your own room." I chuckled.

"I… well you see I'd love to…"

"You'd love to but…"

"It's my Dad. My mom, she was in a guild and she…died. Ever since then he's always been pretty against the whole idea. I don't know what he'd think about me dropping out of college to join a guild."

"This is a decision you have to make for yourself Lucy, not for me, not for your Dad…not for Natsu. Your dad is right, this is a dangerous line of work, you could die, I'm not going to sugar coat that for you. Heck! You almost died yesterday! But I really do see potential in you Lucy Heartfilia, and I'm here to tell you, guild work can be some of the most rewarding experiences. I mean yeah it's dangerous, but it's also exciting, you'd get to go on adventures with all your best friends while experiencing the best life has to offer. Your mother was in a guild for a reason Lucy, not just because it was fun, but because it meant standing together for something bigger than yourself… I won't force you. If you want to return back to University I won't stop you, and I'll personally make sure Yukino doesn't come after you. Guild life isn't for everyone; I can respect that. But Lucy…. If you go, you can't come back."

She sucked in a breath, realizing the finality of her decision. "I can't!?"

I shook my head. "I was already bending the rules to let you hang around this long. It's nothing personal, I just can't have my guild member risking their lives to save you all the time. If you're going to be one of us, then you're going to have to really be one of us. Do you understand?" She nodded.

"Do I have to decide right now?"

"I'm afraid so. Pardon my French, but shits about to hit the fan. I can't afford to give you the time to think about it like I ordinarily would like to."

I looked down at my hands twisting around the mug Laxus had brought me. It was green, just like his rob. Before this little conversation I guess I had chalked up to see Laxus as some brutish villain that Natsu had talked him up to be. I imagined him to be self-centered, bossy and inconsiderate, but that wasn't the man that was sitting across from me today. I was starting to see there was more to Laxus than I had originally thought. Regardless, this was a difficult position Laxus was putting me in. On the one hand it's been my wildest dream to join a guild, an opportunity I'd never thought I'd actually get, and here it was. However now that the moment was right in front of me doubt clouded my vision. My father, who has worked his whole life to make sure that I could go to college and life a happy normal life away from all of this, he'd be crushed. It's not in his character to berate me, but his utter disappointment will be worse. Not to mention all the things I'd be leaving behind, like Levi, my job, my classes.

"Do I have to drop out of school?" I asked.

"Not if you don't want to." Laxus paused to scratch his chin. "I imagine it would be difficult for you to keep up with all your training and your classes, but not impossible. If you promise to give it all you've got I'll let you keep going to school. But Lucy…" His tone dropped, and he looked at me pointedly. "If I feel like your training is suffering because of it, I will make you stop going."

I nodded. Being able to continue to go to class would be an easier point to make with my Dad. "Okay then. I'll do it." I nodded again to emphasize the point. "I'll join Fairy Tail!"

(Hours Earlier)

I could never sleep the night after a fight. The remnants of adrenaline keep me twitchy and restless. After I had put Lucy to bed, I hung around to help the others who were well enough to start to clean up, while some of the other "S" class wizards recast some the concealment charms that Brain had broken through. However slowly, one by one, everyone else drifted off to bed until I was the last thing standing. I couldn't go back to my room, Lucy was in there sleeping and I was worried my fidgeting around would only wake her up. Having been busy cleaning up and taking care of Lucy, it had kept my mind too busy to reminisce. Now that I was alone there was nothing to quell the wave of anxiety that threatened to drown me. All I could do was relive the accounts of the day over and over again in my mind. For hours I paced both the ruined and intact parts Fairy Tail, as if the answers where woven into the carpet or etched somewhere in the wall paper. I had no concept of time passing, only the feeling falling. I had no ropes, parachute, I had to fall off the deep end. This was something I had to face all on my own, there was no body left to reach out a hand. The only person who could help, I've only been searching for for twenty years, and I wasn't any closer to finding him.

I couldn't say what time it was; I had been dangling my feet over the edge of the dive board of one of Fairy Tails larger pools. I was watching the refractions of the moonlight on the surface of the water, when someone's reflection started to stare back at me. I didn't say anything, what was there to say?

"Can't sleep?" He finally asked. No shit Sherlock.

"Uh-huh. You?" I replied.

He sighed. "Oh, I've never been able to sleep on nights like these. It seems like so much as happened already and yet we're standing only at the precipice."

I nodded in agreement although I didn't say anything. How could he know, how could anybody possibly know? There was a long pause, I was just thinking he was about to walk away when.

"If you come down off that ledge I'll tell you what I overheard Laxus and Erza talking about…. It's regarding Lucy." I snapped my attention over to actually look at him rather than just his reflection in the water. Damn. He got me.

Minutes later we were seated in a garden that faced the pool, sitting in ornate, wrought iron lawn furniture I didn't even know was there until that moment. "So…what did Laxus decide?" I asked stiffly.

"He's going to ask her to join. Tomorrow probably." Replied Gildarts matter of fact.

"Fuck." I hissed, looking past Gildarts and off into the distance. He nodded as if he understood but then he said.

"Really? I thought you'd be thrilled?"

"I would have been… I mean I am… I mean…. I don't know."

"Ah. I see." He said, letting his non answer linger in the air as if he'd asked a real question. I fell for the trap.

"It's just before today, or err... I guess yesterday now. I would have been excited, I would have been excited for any new member to join us, and Lucy well, she'd be such a great fit. After yesterday I don't know. She'll just be in so much more danger now and I don't know what I would…. How I could… " I stammered. My hands dug frantically at my hair, and I let my elbows rest on the table. Panic at the idea of what could have happened to Lucy had been eating away at me, now I have a fresh wave of anxiety about what could happen to her in the future, to any of the members Fairy Tail for that matter, and it was because of me. It was because of what I am, and I didn't have any answers.

As calm as day Gildarts asked. "Do you think she'll accept?"

"Yeah… I mean she's been pretty upfront about her interest in guild work from the word 'go'."

Gildarts nodded knowingly. He then asked. "So what are you going to do about it?"

"What do you mean? Lucy has free will, I can't very well make her stay home by force…. Well I mean I could but…"

"No! Not that! I mean… Your little scaley problem."

"Oh. That." I say, my mood darkening further and my willingness to continue to talk about it quickly diminishing. "I have no idea. It's not like I have anybody to help me with this. I'm all alone." I shrugged.

"The moment you think you're all alone is the moment we're all in danger." Barked Gildarts fiercely. "You have all of us Natsu, don't ever forget that!" I jerked my chin downwards in response. A long pause followed before I asked tentatively.

"So…. What did I look like?"

Gildarts looked at me intently, searching, as if he was trying to find a part of the human that mirrored the beast. "You were the most beautiful thing I've ever seen." He looked away from me and then up at the moon, as if trying to recall the exact details. "Red scales, obviously, they're so shiny and reflective, like a fine polish on a classic car. And huge, I'd say two stories. Your teeth they're brilliant and sharp, your claws long and powerful but your eyes…." He directed his gaze back to me. "Your eyes are the same…... and that's how I knew we had hope."

"Keep talking like that and I might have to take you home." I teased.

"Seriously Natsu… What was it like?"

"It was like…. Like falling or being stuck underwater. I could see everything that was happening but… it was like I couldn't comprehend it. Like my body moved on instinct without me having to tell it. A distant part of me was aware, but it was like that part wasn't in the control room."

"What brought you back?"

"When I saw Lucy like that I just…. Well I thought it would be easier than facing reality. It's like you know how some people can repress bad memories? It's kind of like that. And then… I don't know I got triggered back to reality I guess, the part that was aware ran around until it found the control room…..Gildarts…How do I stop myself from doing that again?" I asked, a shot in the dark. Gildarts wouldn't know anything about this, nobody alive would have the answers I'm looking for. "How do I make sure I don't… that I don't become a dragon permanently?" It was a long while before he answered. For a moment we both just breathed in the damp fall air, the sound of cicadas coming from nearby trees. Eventually he said.

"I don't think you're going to be able to stop yourself from changing again. It's who you are, always has been. I think Makarov knows that as well. This strategy that we, and I say we and not just you, Natsu, was to quell your dragon side as much as possible but I don't think the goal was ever so that you'd never transform. I think the goal was so that when you finally did, you'd be ready. Now I know you're afraid, we're all afraid that you might get stuck in that form or that you'll hurt one of us while, but after yesterday I no longer have that fear."

"Why not?" I asked confused. If anything, shouldn't we be more afraid? Shouldn't we be making contingency plans to lock me away?

"Because you came back."

 **Apologies that it's been a while. I didn't want to write just to keep it going, I wanted to wait until I had a better idea of where to take it. Thank you for your patience! Hope you enjoy! Promise the next couple chapters won't take so long. :)**


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Planning

Sweat poured off my brow, my tank top was soaked, my arms and legs were trembling. "Come on Lucy it doesn't seem like you're half trying anymore!" Scolded Erza. She was standing opposite me, an Amazonian god, her slight perspiration only adding a glistening sheen to her perfect bronzed skin.

"I am trying!" I whined. It was true, I was, you try taking on Erza in hand to hand combat and see how you feel after an hour!

"Come one Lucy just one more!" She waved her fingers towards herself, that on anybody else would've been the 'come at me bro' gesture. She'd said 'just one more' twelve times ago!

"Ugh! Fine! Okay! Get ready!" I said, bouncing on the balls of my feet, determined to give it all I've got! I needed this time to be the last time, mainly because I didn't have the energy for a fourteenth try. Erza rolled her eyes at me and squared up. For the past forty-five minutes' now I've been trying to nail down this patterned combination and Erza wouldn't let me stop at anything short of perfection. The closest I've gotten so far was by kneeing Erza in the ribs, which only happened because she wasn't expecting me to miss by such a margin.

I sprinted towards her, careful to keep my center of gravity low. Erza swung at me with her left arm, which I blocked with my right forearm, then with all the strength I could muster I lunged off my right foot just barely missing an uppercut from her right fist. Then I twirled around on the ball of my left foot to deliver a round house kick to the back of Erza's head. Naturally she caught my ankle with truly impressive speed. "Better." She said, finally cracking a smile. "I think we can quit on that note." I heaved a huge sigh of relief. I was exhausted, hungry and gross. All the ingredients for a crabby patty. I wasted no time getting into the shower. I let the hot water and the suds turn me from sweaty gremlin back to reasonably attractive blonde. I quickly blow dried my hair, threw on some mascara, pulled on a pair of leggings and a long sleeved sweater and made my way over to the guild hall.

A large section of the guild hall was still under repairs, large plastic drapes blocked off the areas the contractors where still working on. The kitchen had been repaired already, and enough tables had been mended that we could all fit, if we crammed together. I'd quickly learned that with in the guild people sat in the same groups to eat meals every day. While it wouldn't be weird or awkward to hop groups, it had become a habit of mine to sit with Natsu, Grey and Gajeel. I squeezed myself between Grey and Natsu, the three of us sitting so close together we were literally shoulder to shoulder, but they always seemed happy to make room for me.

"Coffee and salad?" Sneered Natsu. "Bleh! That seems like a weird combination." He said as he slathered some fries in ketchup.

"You dunked pickles in mayonnaise. I don't want to hear it." I replied in a flat voice.

"Wow! You look rough! Not caught the edge on Erza yet, eh? Hahahaha!" Teased Gajeel through a mouthful of chili.

"Shut up." I say humorlessly.

"It's okay Lucy." Said Grey, placing a hand on mine. "You know we're just teasing ya!"

"Yeah…yeah. Natsu, why can't you just train me like you did before?" I asked. I'd much prefer Natsu training me, for more reasons than one. Unfortunately, Natsu's reply was cut short because Erza had happened to be walking behind me at that exact moment to overhear our conversation.

"Because Natsu's too easy on you. Let's be honest, you break a nail and he'll let you quit." Erza chimed in, ruffling Natsu's hair. Natsu swatted at her hand.

"Will you cut it out!" He growled, although he didn't even try to defend himself against her statement.

"I didn't think he was going easy on me." I mumbled under my breath.

"You'd better hurry up Lucy, or you'll be late to class." Said Grey as he checked his phone.

"Oh shit!" I said, checking the time as well. I only had 40 minuets to get to class, plus I had to dive! Guess maybe I spent too much time on my hair. I had royally pissed off the registrar when I walked in on Monday morning and demanded I change my schedule to night classes. It had been two weeks since the attack. It's amazing how quickly things just go back to normal…. Or I guess the new normal. Laxus had given me my own room, I wasn't in any hurry to move out of Natsu's room, nor do I feel like Natsu minded, however Laxus seemed to think us living together in the same room was indecent. I found that hypocritical as he and Lisanna lived together, but like, whatever. Plus, hardly anything was going on between us anymore, I'd been so busy what with classes and Erza's Ultimate Boot Camp that we've hardly seen each other let alone have any kind of meaningful conversation. Although in the moments we have had together Natsu has been more conservative than usual, which was making him harder to read than ever.

"I can drive you to class if you want?" Offered Grey. "That way you don't have to worry about parking."

"Yeah! That be great!" I say between fork fulls of salad.

Turns out Grey drives a silver Lexus GS. Figures. We drove in silence, my book bag on my lap as there was nowhere else in the car to put it. "How ya doin' Luce?" He finally asked, shooting me a sideways glance as he drove.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well, it's been a few weeks and things have settle down a bit, but you've been through a lot lately. I'd just figured I'd check up on ya!"

"Oh. Right. Uh. I'm doing alright I think. Although to be honest, I've been so busy I haven't really had time to think." I say shrugging.

"Maybe that's for the best."

"Although Grey…. I have been wondering… what happened? Whenever I try and ask Natsu he dodges. The last thing I remember was fighting Lyon, and then I woke up on the floor with everyone around me." I'd been hoping to catch Grey in a moment alone like this, I knew he'd be the one to tell me. I've tried to ask Erza, but she just told me to talk to Natsu.

"He didn't tell you!?" Grey frowned, looking at me and then back to the road.

"Uh-uh." I shook my head. His eyes narrowed infinitesimally. "Plus ever since then, Natsu's been treating me like I'm made of eggshells or something…. well at least… more than usual."

"Yeah well, I don't blame him." Started Grey. "It depends on who you talk to Luce, and to be honest I was dealing with your old honey, Sting, so I didn't really get a good look myself. Something happened to where Laxus had to leave Natsu alone with Brain, then something happened with you with Lyon and that got Natsu distracted. Natsu didn't notice, but you did. Brain was powering up to shoot some kind of wicked laser at Natsu. You took the blast for him." Greys grip on the steering wheel tightened. "The laser went right through you Lucy, in one side and out the other, we…well… It's amazing you're still alive really."

I looked down at myself, trying to imagine this hole, amazed and confused. "But how?" I asked, completely flabbergasted. I had felt like absolute dog shit the next day, but otherwise I was totally fine. I figured I'd just gotten knocked out again, I had had no idea all this happened! "How come I'm all better!? How come nobody told me!?"

"Honestly Lucy, I assumed you knew, I thought Natsu would've told you. And it was Wendy… Wendy used every last bit of her strength to save you." Grey something in his tone revealed there was more to the story. Wendy had been incapacitated for days after the attack, I'd had no idea that it was because of me! I know felt extremely guilty that I'd not thanked Wendy yet.

"Thanks for telling me Grey, I don't know why Natsu couldn't tell me that. Seems a bit strange don't you think?" I asked.

"That's not all." Said Grey, his brow furrowing as a hung a right curve. "Natsu…. He… transformed." Finished Grey all serious.

"Oh that!? That's not a big deal! I've seen Natsu sport scales loads of times!"

"No Lucy. I mean completely."

"WHAT!?" I practically screeched, as Grey pulled up to the curb of the building my class was held in. I didn't budge. "How? I mean, what did he do? What did he look like? How did he..?"

"You're going to be late Lucy." Deferred Grey, his tone turning icy. "You'd better get going."

I woke with a start the next morning by a knock on my bedroom door. Groggily I sat up pushing sleep out of my eyes. "Coming!" I yawned. I opened the door, my eyes still adjusting to the light. It was Wendy.

"What are you doing still sleeping!? Laxus has called everybody to a meeting in the Guild Hall!"

"Whaaat!? Hold on just one second!" I raced through my still largely unpacked room, digging through boxes and luggage for clothes to pull on. In a record 8 minutes later I was out the door. Wendy and I where shuffling down the hallway when I stopped her, unable to let it go another second. "…Hey Wendy?"

"Yeah Lucy?"

"I…. I never got a chance to thank you…you know."

She beamed at me. "No problem Lucy! I don't know what I would've done if anything happened to you! Besides, I got to really test my strength, it's good for me to know what my limits are."

Gajeel appeared in the hallway. "Are two comin' or what!?"

"Coming!" We both said at the same time.

"I've call you all together, as you can probably gather, to talk about recent events and our strategy moving forward." Began Laxus. We were all sitting in rows of tables facing Laxus who was at the front, the floor to ceiling windows behind him, bathing him in a crisp, cool, morning sunlight. He looked more himself today from when I'd last seen him, freshly shaven, a new haircut, clean, formfitting clothes. Wendy and I got seats in the back as we were last to arrive. "Now we know that Brain got a sample of Natsu's blood, but we still don't know what he plans to do with it. However due to the fact that we don't have any leads on that topic, we will be letting that go until we gain more information. I'm not risking any of you on a wild goose chase. As for a retaliation mission, there will be none!" A rumble of whisperings rippled on the crowd. Laxus had to raise his voice to be heard over it. "We have Cana's cards back, Lucy and her Keys back, we have no real reason to go on the offensive for anything other than revenge. We're going on the defensive! Do you hear me!?" He gave a particularly stern look at Natsu and Grey, both of whom folded their arms in marked disapproval. Reluctantly they nodded.

"Part of that defensive plan is to make some security updates here at the guild hall. We can't afford to be infiltrated again so easily, so we need to cast a really good concealment and protection enchantments, and those don't come cheap! So as a way to pay for the construction and the new updates I have commissioned jobs for all of you. You'll be split into the groups I've selected." An audible groan made its way through the crowd. Laxus pulled out a handwritten list from his frocket pocket and he began rattling off names that where to be the group assignments. "Jellal, Wendy, Mira, you're in group one. Cana, Gildarts, Lisanna, you're in group two. Erza and Juvia, I have something for the two of you…Grey, Gajeel and Lucy…. Alright that's that! Please line up according to your groups so I can get you the paperwork for the missions you are assigned."

I found Grey and Gajeel so I lined up with them. Natsu, whose name hadn't been called, tagged along with us, easily assuming it had been an oversight. "Haha! Alllright!" Cheered Grey. "I knew we'd be together! Just call us the dream team!" He bounced his pec muscles to emphasize the 'dreaminess' of our team, I rolled my eyes.

"Will you cut it out." Groaned Gajeel, who seemed just as annoyed with Grey's muscle flexing as I was.

"Why? Does this bother you?" Sneered Grey, who was now doing it more just because Gajeel had told him not to. Oh brother, if this is what it was going to be like the whole time, just shoot me now.

"You'd better cut it out before I knock you out!" Threatened Gajeel, playfully brandishing a fist.

"Yeah… such a dream team we're turning out to be…" I said sarcastically.

"You two simmer down now!" Approached Laxus, brandishing a manila envelope with our group mission inside. "This one's for you guys." He said handing the envelope to Grey who undid the clasp and opened it. As he pulled the freshly printed newspaper out of the sleeve, Natsu and Gajeel peaked at the article over either of Grey's shoulders. I stool calmly, my arms rested at my sides, waiting for them to fill me in as I watched their eyes dart back and forth across the text.

"Pirates have invaded Gig Harbor, Washington!? Since when!? They've created a blockade, they're not letting any ships come in or leave. Says here that the Governor of Washington is offering a measly 50k to any guild who gets rid of em." Summarized Grey.

Natsu creased is forehead, still skimming the article over Grey's shoulder as he asked. "Why are they forming a blockade?" He asked. Grey read on.

"Sounds like something to do with ships coming from South America with drugs? I don't know. Sounds fishy to me." Grey said as he quickly reread the article, hoping the glean more information.

"Lucy, with your Aquarius key, Grey's ice magic and Gajeel your strength I thought the three of you would be a good fit for this job." Said Laxus, proud of himself for having thought of it. It was at the moment that Natsu realized he wasn't assigned to come with us, that it hadn't been an oversight.

"Wait a minute!" Said Natsu. "I'm not going with them!?"

"No Natsu, you're coming with me. I've got a mission for the two of us." Stated Laxus, smiling faintly, as if we was excited to go on a mission with just him and his brother.

"The hell I am!" Said Natsu, stepping in front of Grey to face Laxus. "I'm goin' with these guys." He jerked a thumb back at us.

"No you're not Natsu." Laxus's smile melted into a grimace. "You're coming with me and that's final! Don't make the mistake of forgetting who calls the shots around here." Said Laxus, his features set, his posture rigid.

"No fucking way! If you think I'm letting you send Lucy off to go legit fight pirates with these two idiots, you've got another thing coming Laxus! She's not ready!" Growled Natsu. I was beginning to tell when his teeth where starting to change by the thickness of his voice. I raised my eyebrows, and continued to watch from behind Grey. Sure, I wanted Natsu to come, but mainly because I enjoyed his company. I didn't need him to complete the mission. I didn't want Natsu as a security blanket.

"Erza seems to think she's is. Besides Natsu, that's not how this guild operates. You don't decide the missions, I do! I know grandpa used to just let you have your way because you're Natsu, the 'special one', the chosen one'! The days of bending the rules for you are over!" Roared Laxus back, not batting an eye, not backing down. To be honest I could kind of see both sides of the coin here. Laxus was the new Guild Master, he's the boss, what he says goes and that should be respected. Besides, he'd obviously put a lot of thought into the groups and missions. He didn't just lump us together willy-nilly, he had put me in a group of two other guild mates I felt comfortable with. On the other hand, I could see how Natsu wasn't real keen on having to take orders from his brother.

"You're putting me on this fucking mission Laxus!" Demanded Natsu, disregarding any of what Laxus had just said. A sprinkling of scales beginning to erupt on his right arm. Both Grey and Gajeel stood speechless beside me. I couldn't tell, if like me, they were just in awe at how quick tempers where rising, or if they'd seen this a thousand times before and knew better than to get involved.

"No. You're. Not! Like it or not I have something that only you can do! Besides, you don't get to lose your temper with me just because you're a little pussy whipped!" Barked out Laxus. Before anyone could blink an eye Natsu had shish kabob'ed the claws on his right arm through the front of Laxus's shirt. He was now holding Laxus off the ground with one arm, by the fabric of his clothing, his feet dangling. Laxus's eyes grew with surprise, but the rest of his body remained calm and largely unfazed, his arms resting at his sides as if daring Natsu to take it a step farther. For a tense moment Natsu held Laxus in the air, his arm both human and dragon in patches. His eyes glowed red, his upper lip curled. The whole guild hall had fallen silent, waiting with bated breath for what would happen next.

I had had just about enough. They were talking about me as if I wasn't even in the room! Not to mention I was pretty miffed that it seemed Natsu hadn't any real faith in me. I stepped out from behind Grey. "That's enough Natsu! I joined Fairy Tail on my own. ME! My decision! And part of that decision is going on missions. That's kind of the whole point basically. If this is my assignment, then I'll give it all I've got!"

His grimace didn't soften, the red glow to his eyes didn't dim, but he slowly lowered Laxus to the ground and retracted his claws.

"Thank you, Lucy." Said Laxus, giving me a satisfactory nod. Except what I had said, hadn't been for Laxus. I was standing up for myself.

Without even acknowledging me, or shooting a glance my direction, Natsu threatened in a low voice. "She'd better not get fucking hurt Laxus."

Massaging his forehead as if all this arguing was giving him a migraine, Laxus sighed and said "Come to my office Natsu, and I'll explain everything."

By the time I had left Laxus's office it was dark, and there seemed to be a lot of ruckus coming from the guild hall. In true Fairy Tail tradition is was customary to spend the evening before a mission with your team mates getting thoroughly hammered as a way of bonding. Gildarts, Cana and Lisanna had given up on drinking games altogether and had resorted into just passing a bottle between the three of them. Because Wendy wasn't old enough to drink yet, Jellal and Mira where playing a card game with her at the bar. Erza and Juvia where off by themselves, drinking wine and talking animatedly with one another. Grey, Gajeel and Lucy where doing a Shot Ski, Lucy having to stand on her tip toes to avoid being spilt on. Whatever shot it had been obviously all three thought it was gross based on their faces.

The anxiety hadn't quelled, but at least the anger had diminished, and I sure as hell wasn't about to bond over booze with fucking Laxus. I went behind the bar to scavenge what left of the liquor and turn it into some kind of concoction. Whatever it was that I had made for myself was pretty awful. I took a seat at the corner bar stool and drank it anyways. I briefly caught Lucy's eye before I sat down, but I wasn't about to go over there to join the three stooges. I was perfectly content on my bar stool to brood in silence. However, my solitude wasn't long lasting as the 'dream team' came around to bother me.

"Ehh come on Salamander." Said Gajeel as he leaned an arm over my shoulder. He always called me that, I've yet to find out why. "We all know you're a little embarrassed about your outburst earlier, and we're here to say it's okay. We're pretty used to it by now…. Here, take a shot of this." He said handing me a shot glass of mystery dark liquid. Wordlessly I slammed it down, it was some kind of dirt cheap whisky. Why they decided to drink this in shot form was beyond me.

"Hey Natsu…" Started Lucy. She was standing on the other side of me, I turned to look at her. He hair was down, her cheeks flushed from the alcohol. I suddenly got a vision of her from the last time we'd been properly drunk together. All breathy on the kitchen island, her skirt pulled up over her hips. Then I remembered what happened afterward. It had looked like she was about to tell me something important because she opened her mouth, then she seemed to change her mind and she said, cracking a smile. "That shot's pretty terrible isn't it?"

Eventually the three of them accomplished what they'd obviously set out to do, begrudgingly they'd gotten me in a better mood. After a good few hours of heckling each other I'd forgotten why I needed to be pissy in the first place. It wasn't long however before I got a frank reminder.

"Come on Lucy! Just this once!" Pleaded Grey. He'd been bugging Lucy to summon her spirit Virgo because he thought Lucy's version of the celestial being was hot.

"No Grey!" She said laughing. "That's not what they're for! Besides, I doubt you're her type."

"Fine! Whatever, I'll probably get to see her tomorrow anyways." Grey said, wiggling his eyebrows at Lucy.

"Yeah Ice Bucket! Keep it in your pants!" Added Gajeel. "And don't do that thing you always do and get naked. It's weird and its Lucy's first time. Don't want to scar her away." He said dragging a hand over his face.

"I don't do it every time! Besides… I think Lucy can handle it." Smirked Grey, starting to unbutton the flannel he'd been wearing. I would've been more threatened by Grey's general attitude towards Lucy, except that he pretty much acts that way with most girls.

"You uncultured swine Grey! Keep your cloths on!" Grumbled Gajeel. As you can probably imagine this started a row between the two of them. Somewhere along the way Gajeel got a pretty good jab in the ribs from Grey. Lucy and I watched them together for a while, laughing and cringing whenever appropriate. As if by a magnetic force we turned to look at each other, laughing, at the same time. The rest of the world fell away in that moment.

It had been several weeks since we've had more than a couple seconds and alone, and those instances had felt stiff and forced. Right now Lucy was the version of herself that I liked best. Not the princess, or the new found hero…just… herself. She was wearing a formfitting sweater dress with stockings and fashionable boots. She had taken some time earlier today to curl her hair, but now those curls where falling out, the ends of her hair right below breast level. I'd always liked her hair, but just then I was entranced by it. I couldn't help myself that without warning I grabbed the ends of it with my right hand. It felt kind of tingly and new, while at the same time was completely natural. I watched my fingers comb through the strands of her hair, unable to meet her eyes. Lucy sucked in a breath like she was surprised by my sudden interest in her. "Hey Lucy." I said.

"Yeah Natsu. What is it?" She said, quietly. I wanted to tell her. I wanted to tell her that I had missed her over these past few weeks, her warm body in my bed, the way her hair spilled across my pillowcase. I wanted to tell her how she made me feel, how my chest feels tight when I'm around her. But what do I say? How do I put my feelings to words? How do I start? Sure the physical attraction between us was obvious, but we've never had any sort of conversation about what we are or what we meant to each other. I looked at her, all expectant for me to say something, and the words got caught in my throat. There was a terrible millisecond where I just stood there with my mouth opened like an idiot.

"Promise me something." I said. My recovery was weak, and only part of the message I was trying to get across, but in the moment, it was the best I could manage. "Promise me that you'll be careful, that you won't get hurt. I…" I frowned, trying to compile my expression to convey the seriousness of what I felt.

"I will if you will!" She said sweetly, not understanding at all what I was trying to tell her, or the severity of what I did tell her. Maybe she was too intoxicated to understand. Lucy put her hands on my knees and leaned over them plant a kiss on me cheek. Before she could pull away I cupped a hand to the back of her neck, pulling her in for a real kiss. Her lips softened easily against mine. I tried to do that thing that I did before, where I kissed my feelings into her rather than telling her, praying she understood.

The magic of the kiss however was ruined by the wolf howls throughout the guild hall. Lucy pulled away, beet red. I pulled away to look behind her at Grey and Gajeel beaming, clearly the culprit to at least some of the whistling. I leveled eyes with Gajeel, eyebrows pinned tightly together. "Gajeel…." I started to say. Choosing to address him as opposed to Grey, that slimly little bastard, couldn't trust him farther than I could throw up, at least where Lucy was concerned. Before I could finish Gajeel waved a hand and interrupted.

"Yeah, yeah Salamander." Said Gajeel. "You don't have to say it."


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Mission Impossible

The plane landed the next morning in Seattle. Being the smallest member of 'the dream team', I had been bequeathed the honor of the dreaded middle seat. I kept bumping shoulders with Gajeel, and Grey was sleeping on my shoulder. "Wake up Sleeping Beauty, we're here!" I said in a singsong voice while I nudged Grey gently.

He yawned, stretched, and said. "All right! Time to start kicking some ass!"

"Calm down Grey. We're not there yet. We've still got an hour drive, and besides once we get there we'll need to access the situation and come up with a strategy. You can't just bust in ice guns blazing!" Said Gajeel as he unbuckled his seatbelt.

"Ah! Strategies are for pussy's! Come on Gajeel, you're not telling me you've lost your mojo!?" Said Grey as he pulled his carry on out from the overhead compartment.

"You're forgetting something." Said Gajeel, jabbing a thumb back in my direction as we shimmied single file down the aisle. "We've got Ms. Princess with us this time."

"HEY!" I piped up. "I resent that!" I've been training hard, I mean sure it's only been two weeks but hey, everyone has to start somewhere.

"Just callin' it like I see it." Shrugged Gajeel. Just then, as we were hustling our way through the airport to reach the rental car Kiosk my phone had a series of vibrations as if it had just reached cell service. I pulled it out of my pocket to look at it, and there it was. Nestled between text message notifications from Levi and my Dad, a text from Natsu. It was the first text I'd ever received from him. Sure I had sent him a handful of texts when he decided to leave me high and try in Colorado, but since he never responded I sort of gave up texting him. I was perhaps more excited about it than I should've been, especially since all it said was.

Natsu: Hey, did you land yet?

Which was kind of a stupid question, considering I wouldn't have been able to text him otherwise.

Lucy: Yup J

An hour and some change later we pulled up to a beautiful, but exceedingly normal town of Gig Harbor. It's a quaint town full of local business and filled to the brim with the overall 'harbor' theme representing its name sake. On the outside nothing seemed out of place, people were walking their dogs, conducting business and usual. However, if you looked up on the horizon of the ocean beyond the town you could just make out the shape of three pirate ships in the distance. The harbor itself was filled mostly with yachts, sail boats and personal finishing boats, there wasn't any big commercial ships, however I didn't know if that was a result of the blockade or not.

We'd equipped ourselves as much as we could. Gig Harbor in the fall isn't exactly warm. It was cold, wet and windy with overcast skies and constant, hazy, drizzle. We'd all chosen puffer jackets, mine was purple, Gajeel's an army green, and Grey of course refused to zip his. Otherwise we all had on big, weatherproof boots and jeans. We'd met the mayor in a cheap, old school diner, the three of us piling into one side of the booth. The mayor was a tall, gangly balding man in his mid 40's whose suit was too big for him and when he smiled it seemed like he had too many teeth for his face. "On behalf of our town, I would like to thank you guys for coming." He said as he shook our hands one by one, as if we had just donated a large sum of money to a park fundraiser. I caked on my best plastic smile, perfected from years of waitressing.

"We're happy to help." I said back. He then proceeded to explain how the pirates first arrived out of nowhere three days ago, how they hadn't called the National Guard because they figured guild work would be the more affordable option. There were only three ships, so far as anyone could tell, and they've prevented anyone from coming or leaving Gig Harbor via ship by open gun fire and cannon balls. Grey and Gajeel both kept a very matter of fact tone with the Mayor, almost to the point of being rude. They didn't ask if anyone had been hurt, or how this affected the lives of the civilians, they only asked to confirm the payment method, and if there was a boat available for us to use to reach the pirates. I wouldn't realize until later why they had such an attitude. Guilds offer a service, and if you cannot pay for it, you don't receive service. You don't go to a nail salon and demand a manicure if you're not prepared to pay for it, same principle. Guilds are not the government. They don't have to help, while the government often employs guilds to do their dirty work, they are not exclusively government property. They're a business.

Something else was bothering me, why where the pirates there in the first place? It was a question no one else seemed to be asking, everyone else was only concerned with getting rid of them. But why would pirates choose this place? Wouldn't a larger harbor like the one not far away in Seattle be a better target? If they were going at this purely from a terrorism standpoint, wouldn't they want to make as much of an impact as possible? Things weren't adding up.

After lunch the Mayor took us down to the harbor leading us through rows of docks to which was supposedly our boat for the day. When we saw it we all shot each other a sideways glance. It was noncommercial fishing boat named the Crusader, that looked very much like it had been built in the late 80's. The Crusader sort of reminded me of Orca from _Jaws_ if maybe a little smaller, and it had two enormous fishing polls that pig tailed off the stern. I'm sure back in her hay day the Crusader would have been the swell and pride of her captain. Today however, the boat was more than a little rusty and I would guess that originally it had been painted in a blue and red trim. I wouldn't say this was the only sort of boat like this in the harbor, but it was in the minority compared to all the crisp, white yachts and wood detailed sailboats. I suppose it made sense, there was a pretty good chance the Crusader would become a casualty of this confrontation.

"All right here she is!" Announced the major, exposing yet another one of his toothy grins. All four of us boarded the boat, the major gave us a brief explanation of the controls, gave us all another handshake, stepped back onto the dock. Gajeel's parents apparently owned a sail boat, and while it wasn't the same, at least he was more equipped to drive the thing than either Grey or myself. I was secretly relieved; I didn't want to be the one stuck captaining the Crusader while the other two were off in combat. The major untied us, waving as he set us off to float into the harbor, Gajeel started up the loud engine and taxied us out of the harbor.

"Okay guys. What's our strategy?" Started Gajeel. We had all crammed into the small cabin area on the ship. The cabin sort of reminded me of the inside of a motor home, it had a small table with a bench covered in moth eaten plaid fabric, a few cabinets filled with odds and ends, a small sink, and the control center. I didn't know where the toilet was, and I knew better than to ask.

"Come on. Things never go to plan anyways so why bother?" Yawned Grey and he leaned his arms behind his head and slapped his feet up on the table.

"I suppose you're right. But we'd better anyways incase things go awry at least we can say we had a plan to start with." Gajeel punched the gear stick forward and the Crusader sputtered off towards the horizon. The increase in speed caused a constant rocking in the ship as it crashed through wakes, ocean spray spattering the windows. "My powers are the least useful here." Continued Gajeel. "But I can protect us from bullets at least."

"Why don't we focus on getting all the pirates on to one ship. That way we only have to capture and focus on one ship as opposed to three." I suggested, secretly hoping my idea wasn't stupid and immediately shot down.

"Hey! Look at you! That's a good idea Luce!" Said Grey, bumping his shoulder against mine as a form of encouragement. "But guys… why don't I just freeze the whole Fjord? Then their ships won't be able to go anywhere and it'll make things a lot simpler."

"You can do that!?" I asked incredulously.

"Of course! Easy peasy!" Said Grey winking at me. "You've only ever seen us fight indoors. We've all got to dampen our powers a bit so we don't destroy everything. Out in the open ocean I'm excited, I'll really get to let things loose here!"

"Uh. Hey guys!" Interrupted Gajeel as he pointed ahead. Grey and I scrambled up from our seats to look out the window. It was kind of hard to tell through all the ocean spray against the glass, but one of the pirate ships had shaken loose from formation and it was headed full steam ahead towards us. "You ready Lucy? Shit's about to get real!" Ask Gajeel in all seriousness. He hadn't spared me a glance, but his brow furrowed.

"Yeah." I said a little shaky, clasping a hand to my key and whip holster to reassure myself. This was my first real, big kid, mission and I was nervous I would mess things up. What if Natsu was right? What if I wasn't ready? Would my incompetency put Grey and Gajeel in danger?

"Don't worry Luce." Said Grey, placing a hand on my arm. "Gajeel and I, we'll take care of ya!"

I opened my mouth to say something, but just then shit really did hit the fan. There was a faint whistling noise and then a great clash as bullets hit the front windshield, shards of glass smattering everywhere. Grey hit the deck to take cover underneath the dashboard, cupping a hand to the back of my neck to force me down with him. More bullets rained down on us, Gajeel turned himself to metal and I could hear the bullets tink off him as well as other metal parts of the ship. Gajeel had bravely pulled us up close with the other, larger, pirate ship. I didn't dare peep my head up to check, the only way I knew it was there was because of the sound of the other engine as well as the large shadow that had encompassed the Crusader.

"Ice make shield!" Shouted Grey and he shot out his arm as if he was reaching for something. In a puff of snowy mist, he had procured a door shield made of ice. He ducked under the shield and held it on his left forearm above his head as he and Gajeel leapt out of the opening the broken windshield had made, out to the bow of the ship. I was left alone, cowering under cover of the dashboard, my mind racing with what to do. If I stood up without cover, there was a high probability that I would be shot. So, what I do? What do I have to work with? Taurus and Virgo, both great for close combat but not so good at long range and neither of them have any kind of shield, plus if I use them now I wouldn't be able to use them later. My whip was useless in this situation, and I couldn't summon Aquarius yet without access to the water. That's what I needed, to get to sea level. But how? That's when it hit me. Duh! Horologium!

I scrambled into my leather pouch, and clasped my hand around the familiar shape of Horologium's key. Like the back of my hand I summoned him. When he appeared there was a lot of commotion, and the sound of wood splintering as Horologium, being a beautiful but gigantic grandfather clock, just barely fit on the inside of the Crusader's cabin. "My Lady." Said Horologium in his typical British accent as he bent his ornate wrought iron arms in a sort of bow.

"Horologium!" I breathed in relief. "I need you to get me down to the water, do you think you can do that?" I asked, as a bullet just grazed the right side of a totally unconcerned Horologium.

"Might I remind you My Lady, that clocks cannot swim." He said very casually. Horologium routinely thought physical tasks where beneath him. He's a celestial spirit that has always been more suited to helping me with my algebra homework.

"Yes I know!" I said exasperatedly. "But can you just let me climb inside you so you can take me down to the water and then you can go back to whatever you were doing in the celestial world!?"

With a great sigh, as if he couldn't me bothered with such a remedial a task, he said. "If you must My Lady." As he kicked his door open, I hurriedly climbed inside. It was much more cramped inside Horologium than the last time I had crawled in as a child. He began to climb over the dashboard, following the same way out as Grey and Gajeel, which needless to say was an interesting experience. Through the window of Horologium's door, I got my first look at the mammoth pirate ship we were facing. Had it not been for our current situation I would have marveled at the sheer grandeur. It was a pirate ship in every sense of the word, made mostly out of a light colored, highly finished wood, with dark holes along the sides for cannons to stick out of. It had no sails however, powered instead by enormous cruise ship sized engines that hung out of the bottom of the ship.

Grey and Gajeel were firing back. Gajeel had turned himself completely metal and was sucking in impossibly deep breaths to exhale a jet engine amount of wind power that was riddled with small metal shards that plunked into the wood ship. Distantly, over the roar of the ocean, we could hear the cries of the injuries Gajeel's metal shards must have inflicted on the crew. Grey had erected an ice barrier to shield us from the majority of the impending gun shots. "Hey Lucy!" He said, smiling amidst that chaos as if this was just another day in the office. "Glad you could make it."

"Hey!" I said, my voice muffled from being inside of Horologium. "I need to get down to water level!"

Grey nodded. "I can do that!" He gave me a thumbs up. With a wave of his hand and another icy mist he created a staircase that hung off the bow of the Crusader. Just then we all looked up, startled by the noise of racketing chains.

"Whatever you're doing, you'd better hurry!" Cried Gajeel as he started to inhale for a second attack. Noses of artillery canons began to poke out of the holes on the ship. Horologium side stepped Grey's barrier and began to descend the ice made stairs with great caution, as if he had all the time in the world.

"Would you hurry up Horologium! If those canons fire we're going to be blasted to outer space!" I scolded, banging my fists on the inside of his door. He only 'tsk'ed me as he continued down the steps, one by one at his own pace. In fairness his little wrought iron feet kept sliding on the ice. Just as he reached the second to last step he leaned forward and opened his door, dumping me out on the very last step before he 'poof'd back to the celestial world without another word. I was now a sitting duck, out front and center, facing an arsenal of rifles and cannons. For a long moment I was frozen to the step, my mind a blank slate forgetting what it was I was doing. The racketing sound signified that the cannons had been pulled into place.

"LUCY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Shouted Grey from somewhere behind me. For whatever reason Grey's voice brought me back to reality. Adrenaline kicked in and I hastily fished Aquarius's key out of my pouch and stuck it in the water that was licking the edge of my boots.

A column of water shot out from the sea, riding on top of it a magnificent mermaid. She had luscious, long, blue hair that had all sorts of seaweed and shells braided into it. Her fish scales an iridescent green, her top a matching triangle bikini. She carried a mosaic patterned pottery pot, and had on one formidable scowl. "Lucy! You blithering idiot! If your mother wasn't already dead she'd die of shame to see her daughter now!" Screamed Aquarius, furious. I had known she'd be like this, which was why I've been avoiding her up until now.

"Alright Aquarius, I get that you're mad." I said hastily. "But can we deal with this later!? I don't know if you can tell but... WE'RE ABOUT TO BE BLASTED AWAY!"

"YOU INSUFFERABLE, ARROGANT, BRAT! Summoning me in a time like this! After all you've put me through. Some celestial wizard you are!" Aquarius huffed, folding her arms as she treaded water with her tail. Behind her a cannon fired, the gunpowder earsplitting, the cannon ball crashing into the water missing our boat by mere feet, causing our Crusader rock violently in its wake.

"AQUARIUS!" I shouted at the top of my lungs, as water lapped over me, soaking my hair and cloths. I felt let a wet cat, clinging onto the staircase for dear life.

Aquarius whipped around behind her, furious her little lecture had been interrupted. "I'M TALKING HERE!" She shouted at the Pirates. She then rose up out of the water, gracefully tipping her pot over as it poured out a river of water. Aquarius began to spin midair, her posture like that of a figure skater. As she began to twirl so did the water around us, and in a short amount of time she had created a whirl pool that involved both the pirate ship and the Crusader. The pirate ship started firing off cannons left and right, but every single one happened to miss our boat, they merely plunked into open water. I had scrambled back up the ice stairs as the whirl pool started, right at the last step the stair case broke off away from the ship and Gajeel had to grab onto the collar of my coat at the last second to pull me on board.

Aquarius crouched low in her spinning, picking up speed to rise back up, her back arched, her arms over her head. As she sped up so did the whirl pool. We'd felt the increase in the G-forces, none of us could stand up straight without an enormous effort. I was plastered flat to the deck of the boat beside Grey and Gajeel who seemed to struggle against the pressure every bit as much as I did. All this spinning was like a fair ground ride from hell, it turned my stomach upside down, my body incredibly nauseous. Yet somehow the Crusader was able to maintain the same altitude, while the pirate ship circled down the drain like a gold fish in a toilet bowl.

Just like it had all started, it stopped. The water stilled, the Crusader bobbing gently with the currents. I was so dizzy I could do nothing but roll over onto my back, breathing hard. From the waters below I heard Aquarius shout, "The next time you summon me without consulting me it'll be you in the bottom of that whirl pool!" I didn't have the strength to sit up and watch her disappear back to the celestial world.

"That is one powerful spirit." Said Gajeel, and he whipped his mouth, having returned from hurling over the side of the boat.

"But man is she a bitch!" Added Grey, breathing heavily as he stood up and offered me a hand. I took it, letting him hoist me to my feet.

"Yeah… that's Aquarius for you." I laughed nervously. "She's sort of always like that. Unfortunately, she usually doesn't stick around long."

The phone in my pocket buzzed, and I realized in short relief that my phone had somehow survived getting wet. I pulled it out to a missed voicemail from Natsu. The message both comforted me to know that he was thinking about me, and worried me. Was he in trouble? What if and Laxus where calling for back up. I wouldn't have time to listen to the voicemail however, as Gajeel had gotten behind the wheel and started barreling for the other two pirate ships. In all that had just happened I had almost forgotten we were only one-third of the way done. The thought of having to take on two more ships identical to the first made my bones ache. I slipped my phone back into my pocket. Natsu would have to wait.

We'd pulled up in between the second and third pirate ships, oddly they barely seemed to notice us. They did not open gunfire, there was no ratcheting to lower the cannons. Both ships where anchored, eerily silent. Grey somehow hadn't caught on, his fists where sparkling with frost, ready to jump into action. He was about to jump overboard to start turning everything to ice when I held out an arm to stop him. "Wait a minute." I hushed.

"What?" He said, turned to look at me, his eyebrows concerned.

"Don't you think it's strange. It's so quiet, and they have to know we're here." I said, feeling more creeped out by the second.

"Lucy's right." Added Gajeel. "Something's off."

"So what!?" Said Grey. "Let's strike while the iron's hot!" Grey did a one handed leap over the edge of the ship.

"Grey!" I shouted, as I raced to the edge of the bow, leaning over the edge. The moment Greys feet hit the water, it crystalized to ice. Everywhere he stepped he created his own little iceberg, a neat trick despite the circumstances. With great effort he plunged both fists into the water, and the ice began to spread like wildfire. It rolled over the surface of the water, cracking as it froze waves right in their tracks. The air temperature dropped, and it started to snow. "Wow Grey!" I said amazed despite my earlier warnings. Gajeel whistled beside me. I had no idea Grey had this kind of power, I was completely blown away. He turned to look up at me beaming. One of the Pirate ships, with a great groan, tilted slightly on its axis having been frozen completely in place. He really did it, he froze the whole fjord! Coast to coast!

"Alright Elsa, enough gloating! You'd better get your ass back on board!" Called Gajeel.

Despite the big freeze, the eerie silence remained. The three of us stood on the bow of the ship, shrugging our shoulders and looking at each other like 'now what?'. That's when I first started to hear it. A dull roar at first that grew, the sound coming from both ships. Like an army of ants in a nature documentary, pirates swarmed over the sides of hte ships. Their war cries echoing, and growing in volume as they hit the ice and started for the Crusader at a dead run. We were about to be attacked from both sides, and we were ludicrously out numbered.

"Fuck!" Swore Grey.

"God damn it!" Cursed Gajeel as he turned himself back to metal.

"What do we do!?" I said panicked.

"The only thing there is to do." Growled Grey, a strange black liquid that reminded me of the stuff the shadow demon was made of, crawled up Grey's arm. Oddly enough he seemed to be doing it on purpose. I'd never seen him use magic like this before, and I didn't know what it was or even who Grey was in that moment. All I knew was that I had to trust him. "We fight!" He raised his arm out, his hand flat as fragments of ice shot out of his fingertips, impaling the first line of men on the left side of the Crusader. The screams of those men where horrible, they fell, hands clamping over where Grey's shards of ice dug into their flesh. Pools of blood a stark contrast in the snow. It didn't stop the pirates behind them however, as they trampled over their fallen comrades in their haste to get to us. As if his demon arm had given him a renewed sense of confidence, Grey sauntered over the left side of the ship, delivering more of the same attack.

Gajeel remained on the right side of the ship, delivering a series of long range attacks that where variations of metal shapes and wind power. I summoned Taurus and stood on the right side of the ship next to Gajeel as a wave of pirates crashed into our ship. Things went to hell in a hand basket quickly, and I fought for my life harder than I ever had before. Taurus was swinging his battle axe left and right, a perfect choice for this kind of fighting. In his enormous strength, he'd take out four men with a single, complete, swing of his axe.

I took a moment to try and recall Erza's training, her voice like a broken record in my head. 'Focus on your breathing, keep it even.' 'Keep your center of gravity low.'. The first pirate that came at me, I used my whip to disarm him, I dodged a swing from is left fist and jabbed him in the ribs with my elbow. The majority of the pirates where full grown men, however they were nothing compared to sparing with Erza. They were slow, their moves predictable, the trouble was that there was just so many of them. I didn't have time to worry about Grey and Gajeel, I just had to trust that they were holding their own, it was all I could do to fend off one pirate after another. Eventually I settled into a kind of rhythm, my adrenaline like a life force that heated up my muscles. Most of the pirates only had only short sword and no shield, and since most where right handed they would come at me with their sword arm first. My first step was to disarm them, generally using the celestial whip to do so, then without giving them time to think I would somehow knock them off balance by hitting them in the gut. I would typically finish the fight with a round house to the head, or by choke slamming them with my whip to the ground.

In the middle of maybe my 23rd or 24th fight I happened to notice a faint pink light that was cast over everything. For a moment I thought it was sunset, but then I looked up to get a glimpse of the sun. What I saw filled me with a cold, feral fear. Overhead of the entire scene was a pink rune spell, bits of it spinning like it was about to set off. Before any of what happened next, I knew we were in trouble. I knew there was a wizard on the scene, and a powerful one at that. I stood there, dumb, my mouth hanging open, about to warn Grey and Gajeel when the spell went off. The pink light exploded and I felt myself fly through the air, landing somewhere out on the ice on my side. My head was ringing, and my vision was blurry, still I knew I had to get up. I pushed myself to my feet, looking around me wildly for the blurry outlines of Grey, Gajeel and Taurus. What I saw was that everyone, including all the pirates had been knocked off their feet, all of us splayed out on the ice like dominos. The pirates began to stir, groaning and rolling over. Grey and Gajeel where already at their feet, standing back to back, arms ready. I had been blasted a good football field's length away from them, luckily however Taurus was only a few feet away to my right.

An evil feminine laugh cackled somewhere above us. "Fairy Tail, nice to see you again so soon." It was Minerva, she was somehow hovering in the air above us, sitting cross legged. What was she doing here? Was she a pirate? Or was Sabretooth somehow involved in all this? Between the palms of her hands she began growing what looked like a gasoline colored bubble. When it grew to her satisfaction she directed it towards Grey and Gajeel, Grey however countered sending spikes of black ice at it. The bubble exploded midair giving us a taste of the shit we were in. This was over our pay grade. What had turned into a job became a fight for our lives. Somehow it seemed Minerva was in charge of the pirates as she said. "Come on your lazy sea rats! Get to your feet!" Begrudgingly it seemed, the pirates resumed their previous attack and like before I found myself back in combat.

My muscles were weakening, my strength had diminished, and I knew I had to get to Grey and Gajeel. They were tandem fighting off Minerva. I was worried for them, if Erza couldn't successfully fight her off, how would they fair? We'd bitten off way more than we could chew. If it had been just the pirates we would have been ok, it would have sucked, but we would've survived. With Minerva on the scene I wasn't so sure.

"Taurus!" I shouted. "We need to make to the others!" Taurus mooed in acknowledgement. We had a long way to go and a sea of pirates between us and our target, but Taurus and I fought side by sit. He would swing high, and I would swing low, I just had to be careful to dodge the backswing of his axe. I was tiring quickly, my breaths labored, my lungs screaming for more and more oxygen. I wasn't a warrior yet and despite my brain telling my body to move, I was slowing down. I tripped over a dead body fending off a pirate with a morning star. He would have clobbered my head in if Taurus hadn't saved me and bunted him with the butt of his axe. I knew I couldn't quit, quitting meant not only my own death, but the death of my friends and that to me was unacceptable. Eventually we made it to Grey and Gajeel, worse for wear but we'd made it. The task of making it however had been Taurus's last effort and in a cloud of golden dust he vanished. Having summoned three of my four celestial spirits already, I hadn't any strength left to call for Virgo, though we sorely needed her.

The quantity of pirates left to fight us had been greatly diminished, however it was all Gajeel and Grey could do to keep Minerva at bay. That meant that it was up to me to protect them from the pirates, so they could focus on the bigger issue at hand. I hadn't the strength or the speed, and my mind was fogged with exhaustion, I was running on fumes. I caught the left arm of an enormous, gladiator of a pirate who had tried to cut Gajeel between the ribs. I was successful at stopping his left arm, but not his right as he socked me in the face so hard it rocked my world, there was the blunt crack of flesh on flesh. Never before in my life had I been punched in the face, and let me tell you, it's a life changing experience. I spat out a clot of blood that came from my sinus's. Grey had happened to catch what had just occurred and spared a moment to freeze the next dozen pirates in a tomb of black ice. That gave me a moment of relief before the next wave of pirates, to suck in air and rub my face.

I counted, there was still nine pirates left, and I was totally out of magic. That meant I would be facing nine, grown ass men against one, very tired, 130lb girl. It was an impossible task doomed for failure, but I couldn't give up. On top of that, it seemed it was all Grey and Gajeel could do was parry Minerva's attacks, rarely did they manage to land a hit. Although she must have thought them formidable enough that she didn't waste any time heckling us.

I was still fighting but I was slipping up bad, I'd had to use my left arm as a shield at some point, the pirate cutting through my down coat leaving a bloody gash into by bicep. Feathers from my coat where now everywhere raining down on us, only adding to the morbidity of the whole ordeal. I'd lost the rhythm Erza had taught me, and I was now fighting like a wild animal, digging my nails in when it counted, landing shameless crotch shots, biting anything that came too close to my face.

The fifth pirate aimed a sword at Grey's throat, but he was too busy holding off an orb of death from Minerva with is bare hands. The next few moments happened in slow motion for me. I cried out and slammed into the pirate with the sword at Grey's throat, throwing all my body weight into him as we both fell to the ground. However, in order to save Grey, I had abandoned my own pirate I'd been fighting, who was now open to stab me through the back. Gajeel noticed and left Grey to face Minerva on his own as he fought the pirate who was about to stab me, catching his arm and with a horrible, audible, crack he broke it. The pirate screamed in pain, falling to his knees clutching his arm. I had managed to turn the sword around on the pirate as I fell and stabbed him through his shoulder so deep the sword was stuck in the ice. Blood spread quickly through the wound, staining the ice beneath him, the man tried to scream but gurgled instead. However, it wasn't the pirates scream that made my insides curdle.

Slowly I turned, petrified to lay eyes on what I knew to be a terrible scene. Gajeel and I, we'd left Grey wide open. It was Grey, with Minerva standing over him, her hands contorted as she was delivering a dark curse onto Grey's body. He was writhing, flat out on the ice, a dreadful scream coming from him, his eyes rolled to the back of his head, blood coming out of his nose, foam out of his mouth. He had totally lost control of his body as he seized and seized on the ice in intense pain.

"YOU FUCKING CUNT!" Bellowed Gajeel and he charged towards Minerva. He had already summoned his sword, which I hadn't know he had until just then. It was a huge two handed sword made out of a dark metal, with a kind of metal dragon for a hilt and rubies for eyes. Minerva was forced to turn from Grey, and she summoned two smaller orbs that she held in each palm to ward of Gajeel's new found fury.

Tears stung my eyes as I scrambled across the ice for Grey. Sobs ripped at my chest as I lifted his head onto my lap. I didn't know if he was alive, and I hadn't the sense to check. All I knew was that he wasn't moving, that his body was covered in a cold sweat. My tear drops landed on his face as I cried "Grey! Grey!" Hoarsely over and over. My shaking hands cupped his face, smoothed his hair back. It didn't seem like he was breathing until he suddenly coughed up a bloody foam.

We were going to die. This was it. There was nothing I could do. I'd given it more than everything I had. Gajeel was successfully warding off Minerva, but he was still losing. Grey was probably dying, and I hadn't any strength left to fight the remaining pirates. My mind flipped, just for a second into a catatonic state. For some reason all I could think of was that missed voicemail from Natsu, and how I had missed what it said. That's when it clicked. Natsu… Natsu… With trembling hands, I reached into my pocket and dialed.

"Natsu! Natsu!" I blubbered frantically into the phone.

24 Hours Earlier

More and more I've noticed Natsu's dragon getting the better of him. Sure Natsu's always been a hot headed punk, but even I have to admit it's been getting worse. I'd expected that when I made the group announcements that Natsu would be upset he wasn't paired with Lucy, but I hadn't expected that level of anger. For a just a sliver of a second, he wasn't Natsu anymore, and that scared me. All the more reason for this mission. "Close the door behind you Natsu and sit down." I ordered as I massaged the area on my chest where his claws had grazed my skin. I went behind my desk and heaved a sigh as I sank into my arm chair. When I looked up Natsu had closed the door, but he hadn't sat down. He was standing across from me, arms folded, breathing through his nostrils. I figured it was pointless to try and get him to relax.

"I called Gramps." I started. "When you transformed a couple weeks ago. I called him to try and get more information about where you came from. Unfortunately, he didn't have much more to say than what he's already told us…. But he did give me a name." That seemed to catch Natsu's attention, his expression softened and he dropped his arms to his sides. I pinched my brows together and leaned forward over my elbows on the desk. "Nastu… tell me. What do you remember?"

Giving in he sighed and pulling out an office chair he said. "Honestly not much. I remember being a very small child catching lizards to roast and eat, I remember Igneel teaching me to count by drawing numbers in the sand and then I remember that one day he was gone." His face hardened as he tried to recall more detail. "The time between then and when I started my life in Fairy Tail is pretty hazy. I must have been laying down, because I looked up into the sun and Makarov standing over me." I nodded, I'd heard all this before but I had just wanted to confirm moving forward.

I remember the day Natsu came home probably more clearly than he did. He was skinny and covered in a kind of red clay, his pink hair long past his shoulders. I remember Grandpa sitting me down to tell me that I would have a brother and how excited I was. After the death of my parents, I had fallen into a depression, our family reduced to just myself and Makarov. I was so excited to gain a brother to play with. "He told me only a first name. Cassandra. Ring any bells?" I asked.

Natsu took a moment then shook his head slowly. "Well, I've been doing some research. It hasn't been easy. I've spent hours filtering all the Cassandra's in Arizona phone books from 1995 to 1998. Turned out to be a waste of time. I was starting to worry, perhaps we would have to hack into government files somehow, that's when I remembered something. In Greek mythology there is a Cassandra. As a shot in the dark I started researching myths and legends about that Cassandra, the immortal soothsayer. Was she even a real thing? Why would she be in Arizona? What was her connection to you? I still don't know, but I think we'd better go and find out." I say, lazily tossing an article in a magazine I had found by chance onto the desk. Natsu picked it up, I watched his eyes flicker across the page as he read. It was an article about some lost hikers, they'd been missing in the Grand Canyon for 10 days, spewing some nonsense about a woman in a cave. Whoever had conducted the interview was under the impression that the hikers had hallucinated, a side effect from severe heat stroke, but I wasn't so sure. "I think we'd better go check it out, hadn't you?"

Natsu took a moment as he hastily reread the article, I sat across from him patient. "I don't know Laxus, feels pretty far-fetched to me, but I suppose anything is possible. If this woman in a cave really is the Cassandra we're talkin' about, it sure would be worth wild to see what she has to say. Besides, if it turns out to be a dead end we can always turn around to go help Lucy and the others." He conceded.

"Speaking about that." I said, digging in my pocket to fish out two coins. I slid them across the table over to Natsu, who picked one up to examine it. "I took the liberty of having these made for us. They're fast travel coins, and they didn't come cheap. They're one time use only, so make it count. I got one for myself as well, that way if they run into to trouble we're only a coin flip away."

It was high noon and the sun was beating down on us. We'd searched for this cave all morning, I'd brought Laxus to the section of the canyon I remembered with the most clarity, but still I had been little more than a toddler last time I was here. We'd barely spoken to each other on our way over here, and the flight had been largely uneventful. I had used my heat blasters to make the decent, Laxus had spent a bunch of money on a kind of magical harness that didn't require ropes. I'd ran my hand over the smooth, rust colored rock the familiar feeling jogging my memory. "This way!" I told Laxus, setting off at an easy jog. What I did remember about the cave I spent my formative years in, was that the entrance was at the bottom canyon. I knew that it overlooked a narrow section of the river, small, hardy bushes framed the entrance.

Laxus didn't have to struggle to keep up, although he was more heat intolerant than I was. He had on all his fancy shmancy gear, you know the pants that zip into shorts and button down t-shirt made of this special ventilated fabric. I swear to god he put on sunscreen when I wasn't looking, I could smell it. I, however, was in a cut off and shorts, nothing special. As we rounded the corner, I stared to remember, like in a long forgotten dream. The sound of the water, the formations in the rock, the smell of wet clay. It wasn't much longer before I spotted it, the entrance to the cave. If I hadn't known it was there, it would have been easy to overlook. The bushes I had remembered had grown into small trees, completely obscuring the entrance. "Here!" I announced.

"Are you sure?" Asked Laxus skeptically.

"Yup!" I said confidently. "Positive. It has to be." I held my palms up and summoned Igneel's Fury to slice enough of the shrubbery away that Laxus and I could fit. We had had to hunch a bit to get inside, however once inside the cavity of the cave was much, much larger than the entrance. Like most caves, it was dark, damp and smelled like earth.

"Damn it!" Said Laxus. "We should have bought flash lights!" I shot him an exasperated look and help up my right hand, lighting it up with delicate flames. "Oh. Right." He realized, stupidly.

I led him deeper into the cave, the light from my fire causing shadows to dance along the walls as we walked. Fortunately, the cave never forked, so all we had to do was follow it, ducking under the occasional stalactite. After about 10 minuets of this we started to notice a speckling of bioluminescent bugs that gradually increased in population the deeper we climbed. Eventually the mouth of the cave opened up to a gigantic cavern littered with the blue/green glow of the bioluminescent bugs reflecting off the pool of water at its base. I put out my flames, there was enough glow to see without it. There was a woman, lounging at the shore of the pool. She was naked except for her extraordinarily long, almost translucent hair, she was staring at her reflection in the water, not bothering to turn to look at our faces directly she said, in a whimsical voice.

"You are late boys."

"Are you?... Are you Cassandra?" Asked Laxus as he took a step forward to approach her. Instinct hummed in my ear, telling me that getting too close was a bad idea, I put out my arm to stop him.

The women gazed at her own reflection, looking but not seeing. "Yes…" She said slowly. "I think I answered to that name once." Laxus and I shot each other a meaningful glance.

"You said we're late. Does that mean you were expecting us?" I asked, looking at her, only through her reflection. She appeared to be young, in her twenties or so, and she was remarkably beautiful.

"Oh yes." She said, appearing to me to be a little aloof. "I've been expecting you for some time…. Natsu Dragneel."

"How?... How do you know my name?"

She shifted her body slightly, finally twisting to look directly at me as opposed to only my reflection. As she moved I felt Laxus stiffen beside me. Her breasts where bare, small but perky. Her eyes the same, bright color as the bugs. "You don't remember me Natsu?" She asked, cocking her head, almost sad. I shook my head slowly. She sighed and turned back around to gaze into the pool. "I suppose you wouldn't. It's been…. Quite…. A long time." She hummed.

"Do you know Igneel?!" I spat out, my heart suddenly racing. It had been so long since I had had any new information I was desperate for anything at all.

"Igneel…" She said thoughtfully. "You mean the dragon, Igneel?"

"Yes! That's the one!" I replied quickly, daring to take a step forward.

"Yes, I knew him." She said as she picked up a long piece of her hair and examined it. My heart hammered in my chest, my body surging with something very similar to hope.

"Do you know where he is!? Can you show me?" I asked like an excited puppy, taking another step forward. Laxus grabbed my arm, mimicking my earlier warning to not take another step.

"I don't think we should get any closer." Warned Laxus.

"Yes… and no." Said Cassandra simply.

"Wha!? Why not?" I argued.

Laxus hastily changed the subject. "How do you know Natsu?"

"He used to live in this cave… but I know you too Laxus." She said dreamily. "I know everything." She just barely touched the surface of the water with her index finger, causing a series of ripples. The ripples warped the image on the surface, until the image began to change. Before we knew it Laxus and I were watching a silent movie, it was about a red headed witched who used a lightning magic very similar to Laxus's and a large, husky blonde man with super strength. I risked a glance at Laxus, whose eyes where the size of saucers, his breath caught in his throat. I realized then that this must be an image of Laxus's parents. They were fighting something together, and whatever it was, wasn't human. The thing was massive, only scaly bits of its body parts fit the frame. I realized what this woman must be showing us too late, whatever the monster was, was crushing Laxus's father beneath its feet, his mother frantically raining down lighting in order to save him. This must be how his parent died. A vision I would have preferred to spare Laxus of.

"Stop it!" I shouted. "Stop whatever it is you're doing!" I looked at Laxus, he was rooted to the spot, his eyes opened and unblinking. As soon as the image vanished from the surface of the water he exhaled.

"What?" She said, innocently. "I was only showing truth."

"Never mind that." Said Laxus, shaking his head returning to his normal self, his voice gritty. "Tell us what you know about Natsu."

"So bossy!" Cassandra huffed in mock offense. "Natsu, like I said, used to live here in this cave with me when he was a little baby. Igneel and myself, we raised you." She looked at my reflection with a loving fondness. "But then Igneel left, and I couldn't care for you on my own. I'm not equipped for such tasks you see." She stood up then and began to wade into the water, her long hair floating behind her, the movement causing a trickling noise to echo through the cavern. "You were dying. So, I used my mirror." She gestured towards the water before her. "I reached out to the only person I knew I could trust with the prophecy."

"The prophecy!? What prophecy? Why don't I remember you?" I asked, rushing forward, just out of Laxus's reach. My shoes just breaking the shore of the pool. As soon as I touched the water there was a great whooshing noise of water, seemingly coming from nowhere, swelled causing the water level to rise at an alarming rate.

"Natsu Dragneel, the last true dragonslayer." Cassandra said, calm as day as the water level began to rise to her neck. Laxus and I were in it waist high, and he was tugging on me to escape. "….Shall slay the last true dragon."

"Come on Natsu! We've gotta get out of here!" Yelled Laxus and he started to drag me backwards.

"Wait! What do you mean the last true dragon!? Where is Igneel!? Tell me!" I howled as the water level enveloped her. Finally accepting defeat, at least for today, I followed Laxus. We ran like bats out of hell out of the cave as the title wave chased us. The sounds of our labored breathing reverberating off the walls. I'd relit my hands, but still we managed to trip over stones and rocks in our haste. We ducked under the exit to the cave just in time as the water rushed out, pouring into the stream below. With our hands on our knees we savored a moment to catch our breath, water traveling past our ankles. "Laxus…" I said, my next words difficult for me in light of recent situations. "Thank…"

At that moment my phone buzzed in my pocket, hastily I pulled it out. As I had feared, it was Lucy. I clicked the green answer bubble, and before I could speak Lucy's voice rang out from the speaker. "Natsu! Nastu!?"

My blood vessels froze. She was hysterical, something had gone terribly wrong. "Lucy!" I said back, trying to keep my voice calm. "Lucy what is it!?" For a moment all I heard was sobs, and she was hard to understand through all her crying.

"It's Grey, he's hurt or cursed or something, I don't know he's not moving." More sobs. Laxus had stilled, over hearing Lucy's line. "Help! It's Minerva…. She was… Gajeel is…. More pirates…" Through the sniffling and hiccups I couldn't catch most of what she said, but the fact that Minerva was somehow involved made a pit in my stomach.

Holding my voice firmly I said. "Hold on Lucy, stay where you are! We're coming." Before I hung up. I jammed a hand into my shorts, closing my fingers around the coin Laxus had given me. When I looked up, Laxus already had his coin out, waiting. Wordlessly we nodded to one another and flipped our coins in the air simultaneously.

I felt like my whole body was being sucked through a straw, a not all together comfortable experience. When we got spit out the scene was worse that I had imagined. Grey had frozen the whole ocean to the point there was a thin layer of snow over everything. Showoff. Bodies and bodies strewn everywhere, some of the pirates injured, some dead, and some close to being dead. There were two colossal pirate ships frozen into place sandwiching a modest fishing boat, which was where all the commotion was happening.

Minerva was levitating herself in the air, sending orbs of death in Gajeel's direction. Gajeel was standing on ice in front of the boat, barely managing to escape Minerva's blasts. I could tell from a distance he was tiring. My eye's flickered over the landscape, desperate to find Lucy. She was hard to find because she was kneeling over what had to be Grey's unconscious body, blending in with the piles of dead and injured pirates. I started for her at a dead sprint, Laxus had forked off to go help Gajeel before he got killed.

I stormed up to the pair, and before she could even say anything, one look at her and my insides where on fire. My teeth, sharp against my lip, my muscles so tense they ached. I didn't even spare a second glance at Grey, my eyes flashing as I grabbed Lucy by her chin, yanking her forcefully to her feet. The left side of her face was swollen, an ugly black bruise spider-webbing across the side of her face, blood had been wiped away from her nose and mouth. She'd been sucker punched and I felt like killing the bastard who'd did it. Not to mention the laceration she had on her arm, that cut through her down coat, and was deep enough and bleeding enough to seep through the sleeve of the jacket. It was like my rational mind switched off and all I could see was red. "Which one of them did this to you!?" I growled, unintentionally baring my teeth at her.

Lucy cowered under my hand, her mouth hanging open. Then her eyes widened and she shrieked. "Natsu! Behind you!" One of the last remaining pirates was charging at my back. Without losing my one hand under Lucy's chin, I caught the weapon in the man's hand and Sparta kicked him to the ground, ice cracking beneath him. My easy victory caused the remaining pirates to halt and drop their weapons in surrender.

"Which. One." I reiterated through my teeth, turning back to Lucy. Deep down I was horrified of myself, I was scaring her and I knew it. I was creating a crack in the trust I was so undeserving of. Fear and rage where in control now, a runaway train I could barely keep on track. She raised a shaking hand and pointed at one of the piratecicles that had obviously been Grey's handiwork. I let go of her chin and she sank to her knees, resuming her previous position of hovering over Grey.

I thundered off in the direction Lucy had pointed. I heated up my fists until they glowed a molten red, punching the man in the face. There was a sizzling noise as my searing hot fist made contact with the ice, thawing the pirate out. Before the pirate could regain a sense of self, I was on top of him. My knees pressing him into the ice as I pounded at his face with my fists. His nose broke first, quick and easy, making messy work as it covered his face and my hands. Through little crunches in the snow I could tell that someone was walking behind me, but I didn't care, I didn't bother to look.

Then I felt arms snake around my torso, followed by a gentle weight. "Please." She begged. "there's been enough death today." She pressed her face into my back. Like an antidote to a toxic venom, the boiling rage quelled, at least enough for me to return to my senses. I pushed off the beaten pirate, who rolled to his side coughing up the blood in his mouth. I spun around to embrace her, the pendulum swinging the other way.

"I'm… I'm so sorry Lucy. I don't know what came over me…. I…" I said, lost for anything to say that would justify my actions.

She interrupted me, still clinging onto me. "You're here!" She cried in relief. "I thought for sure we were done for!" I petted her hair once then stopped, realizing all the blood on my hands. Today Lucy had been pushed to her very limit, judging by all the dead pirates, and she was still on her feet. I was proud of her, and really, her injuries very easily could have been a lot worse, but I still hated it. Over her head I could make out the silhouette of my friend's motionless body. Carefully I peeled Lucy off me.

In a firm, confident voice I asked. "What happened to Grey?" She whipped around to look back at him, concern swarming in her eyes.

"I.. I don't know Natsu. It was Minerva. It was like she'd cursed him, or possessed him or something."

Right then there was a great crack of thunder. Laxus had speared Minerva with a great bolt of lightning that shot down from the heavens. Minerva fell out of the sky like a bird with a bullet in it. But I knew better than to think she was finished.

"Listen Lucy." I say, keeping one eye on the fight. I cupped a hand to her elbow and marched her back over to Grey. "I'm going to help you get Grey to safety, but I'm going to stay here and help Laxus and Gajeel finish this bitch off." It was a mark of all that Lucy had been through today that she didn't argue. She just bobbled her head in agreement. I scooped Grey up and tossed him over my shoulder. I carried him into fishing boat, laying him down on the table. I turned to Lucy, her eyes half shut and fixed on the rise and fall of Greys even breaths. "Lucy." I said, snapping her attention. "Do you think you can drive this thing?"

"Yeah." She breathed. "The mayor showed us the controls this morning."

"Okay, good. I'm going to need you to drive Grey back to the docks, and call an ambulance. Do you think you can do that for me?" I asked her tenderly.

"Yeah. I think so." She nodded. It was like she was a zombie, sapped of her fighting spirit. Somehow in some way she had been broken, she had gone from a sassy spitfire to a compliant little girl in a matter of hours. There was nothing I could do to help her right now though, right now I had to be an 'S' class wizard, I couldn't put Lucy's feelings above the wellbeing of my comrades.

"I'm going to melt the ice to make it easier for you, okay?"

"Okay."

I pulled her in for one last embrace, pressing my lips against her forehead. "It'll be okay. Grey won't die like this. Stubborn bastard will find a way to pull through. Promise." She nodded wordlessly choking back tears. I released her and crawled through what was once the windshield to melt a trail back to the docks for her before I joined in the action myself.

"Oh and Lucy." She tore her listless gaze away from Grey to look at me. "I love you." I said before I jumped off the edge of the ship and out of sight.

 **Hope you guys like :) And what do we feel about the bits from Laxus's POV? Do you just skip over them or do you think it adds to the story?**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Scrubs

I ran alongside the gurney as the medical professionals wheeled Gray out the of back of the ambulance and into the automatic doors of St. Anthony Hospital. A Doctor rushed over with her long white gown flowing around her calves, talking low and fast to the Nurse that was taking Gray's vitals. Gray was still unconscious, his eyes still rolled in the back of his head, not looking any worse, but not looking any better. I tried to over hear what the Doctor was saying to the nurses as they rushed around the hospital getting to the right room, I was interrupted by the PA, who stopped me to answer questions about what had happened.

"How long has he been like this?" The PA asked, who maybe was a year or two older than myself. He tall and skinny, with bleach blonde hair and bright blue eyes in wire framed glasses. I could tell he was nervous, new perhaps to his position, but he was trying to act confident for me. I sniffed the back of my hand, tears drying on my cheeks.

"Uhh at least 45 minuets, definitely less than two hours." I said, my voice shaking. I started hiccupping, trying to not start hyperventilating.

"Woah!" Said the PA, noticing he held out a hand to my arm. I looked up at his face, his eyes kind and swarming with concern. "Hold on there a minute. Let's take a seat." He gestured towards a wooden bench outside of the room they were wheeling Gray into. I listened and sat down, he sat down on the bench with me, his clipboard held out in front of him. "Let's start with the beginning, how did this happen? Why where you in the harbor?"

"We were the guild." I say between deep and deliberate breaths. "Hired to take on the pirates. But everything went wrong. Minerva…. She was there….We didn't know, she attacked."

"And what was the nature of the magical attack she used?" He asked, calmly scribbling everything I said onto his clipboard.

"It was…. I don't know. She uses these like dark orb things mostly. This attack was different though, there was some kind of scripture written above him." I said, my breathing returning to normal the more I talked.

"And can you remember for me, what was the color of the scripture? Could you decipher what language it was in? Was it more symbols and runes or lettering?" He asked, peaking up through his glasses for a moment.

"It was… pink, I think? It was pink. No runes…. Mandarin maybe?" I nodded, trying to make sure I was recalling correctly.

"That's great Miss…?" He said emphasizing his eyebrows.

"Miss Lucy. I mean…. My names Lucy." I added, he nodded.

"I'm Kyle." He said. I went to stand up to follow Gray into the room. "Hold on! You can't go in there right now, sorry. We've got to let the team here do their job." I nodded, and sank back down, content to wait on the bench until they let me in. Kyle finished his essay and pulled down his clipboard enough to get a better look at me. He took a look at the gash on my arm and set his jaw. "Come into an exam room with me, I'll fix you up."

"Uh," I said, my eyes flickered to the wall Gray was behind. A nurse dashed out of the room with a vial of blood, presumably to run to the lab, the door to Grays room slamming shut behind her. "Yeah. Okay." I agreed. I got up and followed him down the hall way. On the way he handed his clipboard to a nurse, and hastily gave her instructions.

"Have a seat." Said Kyle as he held the door open for me. I obeyed and climbed on top of the exam table to sit on the crinkly paper, my feet hanging childishly over the edge. I rested my hands in my lap. "If it's not painful, can you please remove your coat?" I did so, unzipping it and pulling out my arms, leaving my injured one last, wincing. "Y..you can leave your shirt on." Kyle bleated, averting his eyes. The beginning of his exam was pretty much like any other time I'd been to the Doctors. He listened to my heart and lungs, had me breath deep and stick out my tongue. Then he started to address my most major wound on my arm. "When was the last time you were vaccinated for Tetnus?"

"I don't know. Four years ago?" I said.

Kyle nodded. "I'm going to clean that out now, but it's most likely going to need stitches. Can you roll up your sleeve up for me?" I nodded and began to roll up the sleeves of my blood soaked Underarmor. He started to dab at it with gauze, wiping away the dried blood. I sucked in air at the pain. "Sorry!" He smiled at me, apologetic. "I'll just clean the rest of these up, as well as your face and I'll send in the Doctor to sew up whatever needs stitches." A few minutes later Kyle at left, closing the door and leaving me in the room alone behind him.

I let out a huge breath and laid down on the crinkly paper. I stared up at tile ceiling, taking a moment to take inventory. I had aches and pains all over my body, but nothing crippling. Most of all I felt numb… Frozen. All the adrenaline had been sucked out of my body and all that was left was a shell so exhausted there wasn't even room for emotion anymore. I don't know how long I laid like that, but it was sometime later before a Doctor knocked and walked in, bringing with her a tray of sterilized instruments. She introduced herself and what she was there to do. The Doctor talked in a low, sweet voice that was maternal and reassuring. She had stuck needles in my arm to numb the pain, gave me a tetanus booster, and after she was done stitching up my arm she wheeled around on her stool, putting a stitch or two in other injuries around my body and on my face where my eyebrow split.

As the Doctor was gathering her supplies back up to leave the room, Kyle brushed back in. He said, "Oh good you're finished! Lucy, you can see Gray now." I leapt to my feet, following him out of the door. We walked down the hall together as he escorted me back to Gray's room.

"Thank you." I said, not quite capable yet of smiling back. He opened Gray's door to let me in, leaving us alone together. The light was off, the room dark except for the various monitoring machines Gray was attached to. It had all happened so fast. Gajeel and I, we had left Gray open for one second and this is what became of it. The next thing we knew; he was on the ground writhing in extreme pain, making such an unfathomable noise that I'd never forget. That fast. In the blink of an eye, everything changed. When it came to this, we have no room for error, we have to be perfect. Finally, I understood what Erza had meant by my training. I scooted to the only armchair in the room closer to Gray's bedside and collapsed in it, my arms and head resting on the very edge of Gray's hospital bed. I would be there the instant he woke up. I was asleep the moment I closed my eyes.

When I woke up, the golden sun of the early morning was peaking in through the shutters, casting stripes on the bedsheets. I yawned, sat up, and looked around. No body from Fairy Tail had arrived yet, it was still only me. That would have worried me slightly, except for Gajeel and Laxus had Natsu with them, and even Minerva had to know she was no match for the three of them. It was only a matter of time, that and however long it took them to deal with the feds. I knew they'd be here as soon as they could be, and Natsu… what was that he said?

I stared at Gray, he was breathing on his own now, unhooked from most of his machines. Through the night Kyle came back into the room to explain to me how they had treated Gray. Explained that it had most likely been a kind of ancient dark magic to seal the curse. They were able to break the seal with a team of wizard doctors, and that it was only a matter of time until he woke up. I took a long, doe eyed look at Gray laying in his hospital bed, neatly tucked in. Eventually I got up to use the restroom and find a glass of water. No sooner had I stepped out into the linoleum hallway of the hospital, when Juvia was sprinting down it towards me. For a split second, a grin of relief spread across my face, eager to see a member of Fairy Tail. Juvia didn't stop though, she took an extra step forward and back handed me with all the strength in her right arm, right across my face. I howled in pain and clutched at my face.

"You bitch!" She hissed, breathing as heavily as if she had run all the way here. "How dare you! I was against you joining from the start!" Her startlingly blue hair was frizzy, her glasses askew. "You're not like the rest of us Lucy! You're going to get one of us killed! I knew it would be like this!"

My hand slid from my face as I stood up, my mouth hanging open in shock. "You have no idea what happened out there, Juvia." I growled, narrowing my eyes as I straightened.

"I don't have to know the details! I already know that it is your ineptitude and lack of experience is what lead Gray to be in the state he's in! Let's be honest Lucy, the only reason you're still here is because Natsu wants to fuck you and Laxus is in a position where he wants to appease Natsu. Don't kid yourself. It wasn't your talent that got you into this guild! It was your tits!"

Never before in my life had I been spoken to so brashly, and it caught me off guard. Heat rose up to my ears, and anger beat in my chest. I opened my mouth to say something when a nurse peeped out of Gray's room. "He's awake!" She announced to us.

Apparently both of us thought Gray's rise to consciousness was more important than our cat fight, and we both raced inside. By some miracle I beat Juvia to Gray's bedside. He was sitting up, looking as bright and alert as ever. "Hey girls!" He said smiling.

I leapt for him across the bed, flinging my arms around his neck, tears of relief stinging my eyes. "Gray! You're alright!" I sobbed into his shoulder. Gray wrapped his catheter arm around my back.

"Aw Lucy! I would've gotten injured sooner if I had known this is how you'd react." Gray teased, patting my filthy hair.

"Ahem!" Juvia cleared her throat as if to remind us she was still in the room. I didn't have to look to know that her arms where folded over her bosom, and that she was all but tapping her foot.

"Oh of course!" I said in mock exasperation. Girl world at its finest. Even now after all that just happened, I knew how to play this game. Juvia might be right about some things. But I wouldn't let her be right about me. She didn't know what Gray and I together with Gajeel had accomplished. After all the best revenge is success. I gave Gray a final squeeze and a kiss on the cheek before I got up from the hospital bed to make room for Juvia.

"Oh Gray my darling!" She hovered over as soon as I was out of the way. "I sensed that something was wrong so I called you, and when you didn't answer I called Laxus. He told me where you were and I came straight away!" She methodically smoothed the hair on Gray head.

"You know you girls don't have to worry about me!" Said Gray, shrugging our concerns off, as if we were over reacting. "I wasn't going to let that old bat Minerva get the best me!" Except that she had, she had gotten the best of him.

"Minerva!" Gasped Juvia. "She was there!? I thought you guys where fighting pirates?"

"We were, seems like ol'Saber Tooth was orchestrating the whole thing for some reason. Yeah, all the sudden Minerva popped out of nowhere. Hey, speaking of. How'd I get here Lucy? Where's Gajeel?"

"After you…. Well…" I was reluctant to explain to him exactly what it had looked like. He hadn't simply been unconscious; it had been like an exorcism to be honest. "I panicked. Gajeel he was getting tired, I was out of keys, I did the only thing I could think and I called Natsu." I could practically see Juvia's eyes roll to the back of her head. "I don't know how but he and Laxus just showed up out of thin air. They joined Gajeel, and I drove you back on what was left of our boat. They're still out there now." Gray locked eyes with me, his expression for once serious, and he nodded in understanding. Juvia continued to fuss over him, fluffing his pillows and patting a warm wash cloth to his forehead. To me it seemed like Gray was mildly annoyed by all of Juvia's shuffling about, but he didn't verbalize it.

"You haven't heard from them since?" Asked Gray

"No." I shook my head, and looked down at my feet.

"Eh, don't worry about them Lucy. We'd taken out most of the pirates and the three of them can handle Minerva no problem. Honestly, they're probably still filling out the paper work. What about you Juvia? You didn't leave poor Erza high and dry did ya?"

Juvia looked highly offended. "Of course not! Erza and I were done with our mission within an hour of arriving. I simply got on a plane to Seattle instead of a plane home."

"What was your mission anyways?"

"Mountain trolls in West Virginia. They were interfering with a coal plant. It was easy." Juvia shrugged.

Gray yawned stretching out his arms. "Man! I'm starved! They got anything to eat around here?"

"I'll go see what I can find." I said standing up, now that Gray was awake I was decidedly hungry myself.

The secretary at the front desk gave Laxus, and I the room number. Without a word to each other we stepped in the elevator, too tired to take the stairs. Gajeel was pretty much toast, so we dropped him off at a nearby hotel to rest up for a bit. We were all warn out, but honestly I think the feds took more energy than the actual fight. Minerva had tried using another one of her dark scriptures on Laxus, but for some odd reason it was flammable. Who knew? After that it was all over. We detained her, then it was waiting for the Federal government to show up. There were a lot of bodies to identify, and injured to get back to shore. Then it was answering a million questions, retelling the same story to eight different officers before finally giving a written statement. I badly need a shower, food and some rest, but not before we checked on Lucy and Gray.

The elevator dinged, signifying we had reached our desired floor. We stepped out of the retractable elevator door into the long hospital hallway. Some ways down the hall someone had slipped out into the hallway. "Lucy!" Called out Laxus beside me. Lucy turned around in mild surprise. I hadn't realized I had been holding my breath this whole time until I saw her standing there up right. She was still wearing the same tattered and bloodied cloths, her hair still sporting tendrils of dried blood and sweat. Her face had been washed though, her sleeves had been rolled up and there where stitches in her am.

"Nastu! Laxus!" She exclaimed trotting towards us. We continued a walking pace, letting her catch us with an arm around each of our necks forcing Laxus and myself into a very awkward group hug. "I'm so relieved you guys are alright! Hey… where's Gajeel?"

"He's at the hotel room resting up for a bit." Explained Laxus "He's alright, he's just exhausted. I would like to congratulate you Lucy." Laxus held out a hand for Lucy to shake. She shot me a confused look and then accepted the hand shake from Laxus. "I heard you acted honorably on your first mission, and it was a success thanks to you."

"Thanks to me!?" Said Lucy still confused, letting Laxus shake her limp arm. "Everything went to hell in a hand basket! It was all I could do to survive! Besides, I had to call you and Natsu to come rescue us…" Lucy trailed off sheepishly.

"Yes, but none of you got seriously injured… I presume Gray is awake by now, yes?" Asked Laxus. Lucy nodded, looking at her feet. "The pirates where put down. You did what you came here to do. It's not your fault that Minerva was secretly behind it all. You did the best that could have been expected of you given the circumstances. Good job Lucy." He finished, cracking a weak smile at her as he finally released her hand.

"Are you fucking kidding me Laxus!? They all almost died out there! They would have had we not shown up! We're in a guild war now! We can't afford to be so naïve in the future!" I snarled, wanting to yell but realizing that we were in a public hospital so I dampened my tone. I can never tell if Laxus is just one step ahead of me or stupid, I supposed I'd have to wager on both.

"Doesn't change the fact that Lucy performed admirably." Said Laxus simply, shrugging off what he knew to be round two of our earlier argument. I was still pretty peeved with Laxus, he's taking risks I for one am uncomfortable with. For the moment however, I let it go. "Let's go visit Gray, shall we?"

Lucy turned to follow Laxus back to Grays room, but I put a hand on her shoulder to stop her. She twirled around to face me, her face still all discolored, stitches in her eyebrow. Before I could even speak she started. "Thank you Natsu. I don't know what would have happened if you guys hadn't showed up."

"No need to thank me." I shrugged. "It's what guilds are for."

"Yeah but still… if only I'd been stronger… Gray, well he wouldn't have…" Lucy stammered. She was obviously frustrated and disappointed in herself despite Laxus's pitiful attempt of encouragement. I reached a hand out for her face, but was worried that that might seem too intimate so instead I settled for resting a hand on her shoulder.

"Don't you for one second think this is your fault Lucy. It's not. None of you could have predicted Minerva was going to be there. Hey, do you know why she was there in the first place?" I asked.

"No." She said looking concerned. "I was about to ask you the same thing. What could she have possibly been doing in the bay? And why did she need pirates? Could she have been looking for lost treasure or something?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Probably. I normally wouldn't care but given the circumstances I can't say I'm not suspicious."

"I supposed we'll eventually find out. I don't like not knowing what to expect."

"Eh. That's life." I say with a wry smirk. "There tends to be a lot of surprises in this line of work. Most of the time success is dependent on how well you roll with the punches. Besides, let's get you back to the hotel. You look like you could use a shower."


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Higher Powers Taking a Hold on Me

It always amazes me, no matter how crazy life gets, how quickly things go back to normal. Or least the new normal. Almost immediately after returning to the guild hall, Laxus had new missions for all of us. This time I was on a mission with Wendy and Lisanna. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little let down. We were on a research mission, using my access to my college's library to see what we could find on America's history of magical artifacts. I think all three of us felt like Laxus was giving us a niche little safe job that got us out of the way while rest of the guild went off to fight monsters again. As much as it stung, I bit my tongue. During my last mission Gray did get hurt, and I had to call for back up, so I just shut up, took my orders and licked my wounds.

Gray ended up making a full recovery within a couple of days, I think it's going to take Gajeel a little longer though, and my stitches get to come out next week. There wasn't many of us left at the guild hall, Mirajane was convinced she could make more money for the guild posing for Cosmopolitan than she ever could on a job so she was still around. Gildarts also happened to be still lurking around the guild hall, I'm not quite sure what he's up to, whether he's back already or hasn't left yet.

"Hey! Lucy! Focus! You're spacing out again." Scolded Lisanna as she returned from Starbucks handing me my latte and Wendy her hot chocolate.

"Oh. Right Lisanna, sorry." I say shaking my head and trying to get my eyes to stick to the page I've probably read about 10 times now. I was reading _Magical Weapons of the 20_ _th_ _Century._ It was a dry read, and I couldn't really see how these books where supposed to help us gain a glimpse into what Sabre Tooth and the Oracion Seis where up to. I still felt like we were put here so that we were out of the way.

"Find anything interesting yet?" Lisanna asked as she plopped back down into her usual spot across from me.

"Nah" I sighed heavily. "I've just been reading about experimental magic the government played with before they discovered the A-bomb. I guess they were trying to harness the power of genie magic by using lacrima, didn't work out so well for them…. What about you Wendy? Have you found anything interesting?" It was almost too bad Wendy made it into a guild, she would have made a great student. She had her hair up in a tidy ballerina bun, and great big old hipster glasses that made her look bug eyed.

"Actually yes." Said Wendy, casually looking up from her page. Lisanna and I looked at each other in surprise.

"What is it?" Prodded Lisanna.

"Well…. It's along the same lines as what you're reading Lucy…. Only this book is gives an eyewitness testimony so who knows how credible it is. This author was talking about experiments too however, they mention Dragons and Dragon slayers in particular."

"No surprise there." Huffed Lisanna. "We all know third generation Dragon slayers where emerging about that time. I mean Dragon slayers themselves are a product of experimentation. We've Incorporating dragon genes into the human genome way before Dolly the sheep."

"No…. I mean… I think it's about Natsu." Wendy said thoughtfully. I swallowed my coffee down the wrong pipe and started coughing horribly. "I mean third generation dragon slayers are said to be more stable than second generation, there's a bit more humanity in us. The dragon genes are more diluted. However, after Pearl Harbor we were desperate, they tried to recreate first generation dragon slayers. According to this they all they died in utero…."

"Huh. How did Natsu survive then?" I asked, confusion and disbelief plastered across my face.

"Who knows." Wendy shrugged.

"That boy is always a mystery, isn't he?" Sighed Lisanna a little dreamily. I honestly didn't hate Lisanna at all, in fact I kind of liked her. As long as Natsu's out of the picture we get along swimmingly, but as soon as he's brought up. I don't know, it's like she rubs me the wrong way, as if she's not over him or something. I still don't exactly know what when on between those two, and I'm not so sure I'm too keen on finding out.

Then intuition struck me so hard it made the hairs on my arm stand on end. The idea just floated into my brain as easily as a cloud drifting across the azure sky. And once it was there, lodged in my brain, I knew it to be true, as much as the rational side of my brain told me the impossibility. "Hey guys…" I say quietly. "I think… I think I just had an idea. Who were the American dragons left at that time?"

Wendy shuffled through the pages of the book she was reading to find the answer. "I'm not entirely sure, it's not like the government released that information to the public. I guess we only know of Igneel for sure. I'm sure there had to be others though. Why? What is it?"

"What if… What if we never made an Atomic bomb?" I say a little shaken, I was so confident in my conviction. It all fit too perfectly, the look on Lisanna's face told me she was catching on.

"What if it was really Igneel all this time?" She finished, her delicately penciled eyebrows pinched together.

"No. No way." Said Wendy, firmly skeptical, slapping her book shut. "That would mean NAFTA, the Cold War, all of it, all based on a lie. There's no way that's true."

"Igneel was a fire dragon though." I supplied. "You're telling me that the United States Military had accesses to one of the last known dragons on this planet, a fire dragon no less, and they chose NOT to use him?" I knew I was right, I didn't want to be, but it just made sense. How could a splitting of an atom cause more destruction than a 600-year-old dragon?

"I can see where you're coming from Lucy, but what difference does that make now? Even if you're right, how is this information going to help us? I say enough with the conspiracy theories and get back to work. That's the best thing we can do for our guild mates right now, is to try and find them some answers." Said Lisanna cracking down on us as she shuffled through some papers.

The rest of the day wasn't very fruit full. By 8:00 we decided to throw in the towel and try again tomorrow. Mirajane and Gildarts where still at the guildhall, she was reading a magazine and he was sitting on the couch drinking a beer and watching football. Mirajane lit up when she saw us, she came bounding over, positively bubbling with excitement. "Hey girls!" She said. "How was the library!?"

"Not very eventful." Moaned Wendy. "I'm starving. Do you got anything started Mira?"

"Not yet, but I can make you girls some sandwiches if you'd like?" Mirajane offered sweetly.

"That'd be great! Thanks Mirajane!" Exclaimed Lisanna

"No problem!" Mirajane beamed.

"How did your photoshoot go today?" I asked her.

"Oh! That reminds me! Girls! Us models got invited to a party at Ryan Seacrest's house tonight! I was thinking about going if you'd join me!" She exclaimed clapping her hands together in excitement. From across the room I could hear Gildarts snort beer through his nose. A little too obviously, he then turned the volume down on the TV so he could overhear us better.

"I'd love to!" I gasped. I'd been desperate for any kind of social interaction that wasn't school or guild related. Ever since the gig harbor incident, I'd not really had time to let my hair down. Well, ever since joining the guild really.

"Yeah, I'll come to!" Said Lisanna, which I was sort of surprised by. "Besides…" She added with a devilish grin. "Lucy hasn't experienced all the perks of Fairy Tail yet." Lisanna and Mirajane fell into a fit of giggles.

"That's right!" Exclaimed Mirajane. "You haven't gotten to come out with us as an official guild member yet! This is going to be so much fun!"

Wendy stood there with a hopeful expectant look on her face, I mean I wouldn't have minded chaperoning an underage but Lisanna turned to her, putting an arm around her and said kindly. "So sorry Wendy. You're not of age yet though. Trust me your time will come."

"Yeah! And when that time comes you're not going to want to hang out with old hags like us!" Laughed Mirajane. "Come on Lucy, I'll let you borrow something!" She grabbed me by my shoulders and marched me off towards her room.

Approximately one hour of glam and one Uber later we were pulling up the most lavish estate I'd ever laid eyes on. Every corner, every little detail of the property was manicured and polished without a single blade of grass out of place. There were large white breezeways with floor to ceiling windows and an amazing view of the city. The furniture and décor was straight out of a catalog, everything fresh and clean and none of it looked lived in. There where people everywhere, showing up in Aston Martins and dripping in Hermes. Everything I was wearing was borrowed, a white bodycon mini dress that had these puffy off the shoulder sleeves with these amazing Louboutin over the knee boots that where covered in Swarovski crystals that Mirajane insisted I break out. Admittedly it's not like she had to twist my arm. Turns out Mirajane was being paid to wear a Balenciaga turquoise twill dress that was more high fashion than flattering. Lisanna was wearing her signature brand, a Burberry plaid fit and flare dress that really fit her aesthetic. Even though all three of us where wearing all the labels we could muster up, it was very apparent we're the poppers in a room full of royalty.

In actuality the party was rather boring. We were invited basically to be ogled at by old grimy film makers I couldn't even name, and wouldn't care to. I mean there where celebrities milling about the property, which was exciting in and of itself. I'm pretty sure Lisanna still has my nails imprinted on her arm from when I caught a glimpse of Justin Timberlake from across the garden. More interesting though then the celebrities, or the bottles of Dom Perignon, or the trays of horderves being pass around, was the glimpse into Mirajane's life.

We'd largely been ignored at the party, until Mirajane was addressed by a short, fat, balding man with transition lenses, an Italian suit and a fat cigar. He pulled his lit cigar out of his mouth and addressed her like a real life cartoon character. "Mirajane! Gorgeous as ever!"

She smiled sheepishly and a did a twirl for him, showing off her dress. "Thank you Frank! I always know I'm in the right place if you're here." She said in her most silvery tone. "Won't you meet my friends and guildmates, Lisanna and Lucy. Lucy here, she's new!"

The man supposedly named Frank stuck his meaty little hand to shake mine. "VERY nice to meet you both. Anotha show stoppa this one Mirajane! Does Fairy Tail only let in dames or what!?" He said taking my hand delicately in his as he pressed his lips to my knuckles. A shiver ran down my spine and not in a good way. "And tell me Miss Lucy, what kind of magic tricks do you do?"

Being more than a little miffed by the term 'magic tricks' I answered. "Oh um, I'm a celestial wizard. I use these keys to…"

Frank, apparently not so interested in what I had to say, cut me off. "Very nice sweetheart. That's very cute. Celestial magic. Say Mirajane, why don't you say we's uh, go find somewhere to talk more privately." He said, stuffing his big fat cigar back into his mouth. I shot an anxious look at Mirajane, surely she wouldn't…. surely she wasn't….

But then she said. "Perhaps later Frank. We've only just arrived. Come find me in a little while, kay?" When he left, all I could do was stare at Mirajane, open mouthed and lost for words.

"Oh don't look at me like that Lucy. You used to work and McWhatever's. How is pouring beer in a miniskirt any better than wearing a dress for champagne and caviar?" Mirajane stated flatly, her tone lower and more serious than I was accustom to.

"You mean you don't…?" I asked, unsure of how better to phrase the question and it not be offensive. And, of course she was right. How could I take the moral high ground when what I had done what was just a trashier, more cliché version of what she did?

"Nothing I don't feel comfortable with." Mirajane supplied vaguely. "It's like my mother always told me 'never give them an inch, yet somehow you always leave them wanting more.'"

"Who was that guy anyways?" Asked Lisanna between sips of her extra dry martini.

"Frank Dileo. He used to be one of Micheal Jackson's managers. He's probably the wealthiest man in the room, and at this party… that's saying something." Supplied Mirajane smugly. Turns out, Mr. Dileo was only the beginning in a parade of men that flocked for a moment of Mirajane's attention. Each encounter felt very scripted and rehearsed, but the men, if they noticed, didn't seem to care. They ate up every last ounce of Mirajane's plastic smile, every forced giggle. The experience gave me a new perspective of Mirajane's modeling career, it wasn't all posing in front of a camera and dieting while beauticians fluffed her hair. It was her remarkable ability to make each and every one of these dusty old men feel special. When she smiled it was only for him, when she laughed it was because only he could be so witty.

For a moment I tried to play along with Mirajane's game, but after a while my cheeks hurt and it honestly wasn't much fun. Lisanna just flat out refused to turn on the charm at all, and as a result was pretty much left alone. I couldn't tell if that was because Lisanna fancied herself above such conduct, or because she was in a relationship. It wasn't too much longer before Lisanna and I where unanimously serving Mirajane 'let's leave' vibes.

"Okay fine guys!" Mirajane hissed under her breath as she began to understand. "I need to hit the road anyways before Frank comes back for round four." The three of us trotted off in our heels for the driveway, where we ordered an Uber to take us down town. If you had asked me then what my expectations of the evening where, I would have told you that the three of us where just going to have powwow around downtown and do a little bar hopping. However, for any group of young girls that never seems to go as planned. For me anyways these types of nights usually end with someone breaking a heel, vomiting on the sidewalk then ordering and inhaling a pizza or chicken nuggets. What I totally was unprepared for was what actually happened.

The first club was as to be expected, some well gin and tonics with a nostalgic DJ playing hit songs from the early 2000's. For a while we were having a great time lip syncing 'Cry Me a River' however it wasn't long before it came time to change locations again. So the three amigos trotted out onto the streets in our short dresses and fake eyelashes. We'd pass dozens of bars Lisanna and Mirajane had deemed unworthy, it seemed they were above the grungy college bars with $6.00 pitchers I was accustom to.

"You think you can hang Lucy, you havn't seen nothing yet!" Taunted Lisanna, as she started to teeter a little, holding on to my shoulder for balance.

"Oh yeah?" I say, cocking an eyebrow.

"What else have you got up your sleeve Mirajane? What's the final act? Come on tell us!" Continued on Lisanna.

"Hmmm." Hummed Mirajane, tapping and index finger to her lips in mock contemplation. "Well…" She added slowly for dramatic effect.

"Oh cut with the pretenses and take us there already!" Demanded Lisanna.

Turns out whatever Mirajane's secret plan was, it wasn't far, only a few blocks. A crisp neon purple light titled the place "1 Oak" and the line just to get in was, and I am not shitting you, two whole blocks. The longest, loudest line I have ever seen to get into a stupid club anywhere.

"Are you sure you want to go _here_?" I asked the other two a little skeptically. I was already starting to get tired and didn't really want to spend the rest of our night out in line.

"Oh _we're_ not going to stand in line." Supplied Mirajane, fluffing her hair and checking her lipstick in the compact from her purse.

"And how exactly are you going to manage that?"

Mirajane shrugged and strutted off straight for the bouncer leaving Lisanna and I in her wake. "Because Angels are always welcome at 1 Oak." She said simply, over her shoulder.

I don't think a single extra person could have fit inside that building, and they were definitely over capacity. It really was a beautifully designed club, with classic checkered floors, polished black wood detailing and all the lights on the inside where the same crisp purple as the sign outside. Way back in the corner booth was the famous velvet rope, clearly signifying the V.I.P. section. From all the way at the front however, we couldn't see who the celebrities behind it where. We knew it had to be someone big though because there was a buzz around the crowd. Turns out we would know all too well in just a few short moments. Mirajane grabbed Lisanna's hand, who turned to grab my hand and we slithered our way through the crowd all the way to the corner booth. Once we got there the bouncer, dressed in all black put a hand out to stop us. Mirajane tapped her foot and huffed in mock annoyance. "Page the guy in front." She demanded, rolling her eyes.

Reluctantly the bouncer buzzed his walkie talkie over to the other security in the front of the club, who we overheard the speaker say "Angels. Let 'em in." The bouncer nodded and then lifted the rope for us to let us through. How Lisanna and I passed for Victoria Secret models, even in this trivial sense, I will never know. As we ducked under the rope I held eye contact with Lisanna and mouthed 'is this really happening!?'. She just gave me a knowing smirk and shouted over the music.

"Welcome to Fairy Tail!"

"OMG!" Gasped Mirajane, twirling around to face us and fixing her hair again. "He's here!"

"Whose here?" I asked looking around, clueless.

Very dryly Lisanna offered. "Russel Crow. He really should file a restraining order on her for how much Mirajane stalks him."

"Oh hush!" Mirajane hissed. "Besides, you know he's divorced now." I tried to look around the crowd to spot him, but I was firmly scolded. "Cut it out! Don't be so obvious! He'll see you!"

"Isn't he like 60?" I asked, trying to remember everything I know about Russel Crow, which admittedly was not much.

"That's okay, Mirajane is into older men." By the tone of Lisanna's voice it seemed that this was a recurring theme.

"I am not…. Well okay fine maybe a little. Beside, you guys have seen Gladiator right?"

"Okay…. Then what should we do? How do we get his attention?" I asked, more than a little dazed that this is where my night had gone.

"Drink this." Was Lisanna's response, grabbing a bottle of champagne out of an ice bucket and uncorking it to produce three, very foamy glasses. Before we knew it the next 40 minutes was a whirl wind, and we were just buzzed enough to absorb every second of it. Somehow some way we had been successful and a very inebriated Mirajane was sitting on the lap of a one Russel Crow, whom happened to be accompanied by none other than Drake this evening. He was who I suspected brought such a crowd seeing as he was at least a little more clout right now than his companion. I would say I don't know how it happened, sitting in the same booth as Drake and Russel Crow, however moments beforehand we were standing on a table, twerking and pouring champagne over ourselves, so…. That's how.

Drake himself didn't bother trying to introduce himself to me, he knew that I knew who he was and pretending otherwise would just be a waste of time. I kept catching eye contact with Mirajane and she kept mouthing 'Oh My Gawd', before she'd return to a fit of giggle and sheepishly hide her face in Russel Crows neck. Lisanna was animatedly discussing something, with some lady I didn't recognize, so that left just myself and Drake.

I was so startled and relieved to realize just how normal he was. He asked me about my classes, how I'd gotten into Fairy Tail and I surprised myself by being a little more open and truthful than I probably should have been. He seemed so patient, so understanding and there was this aura of indescribable wisdom about him. As he was telling me about the guilds in Canada, or as they call them there, agencies. He was telling me all about how growing up he'd always wanted to be in a guild, and that he was so disappointed he'd never developed any magical talents.

"Blessing in disguise." I said. "Then the world wouldn't have gotten to hear your musical talents…" Just then Mirajane and Russel Fucking Crow get up to dance and to my complete and utter shock Drake follows their lead and stands up to wordlessly offer me a hand. Based on my lack of better judgement, I took it. Dancing in a night club with Drake was like a strange fairy tale, I was Lizzie McGuire and Drake was Chad Michael Murray. It wasn't like Drake had been particularly one of my celebrity crushes, I mean I had always enjoyed his music, but other than that I hadn't really given him a second thought before now. Honestly, had he just been a normal guy, I wouldn't have been attracted to him at all. He was just so smooth and calculated, it was like being the leading role in a very well-rehearsed play.

The thing was, just then it didn't matter that he'd probably done this same song and dance to countless girls before me. In that moment all I cared about was that out of all the girls in the whole club tonight, I was the one he chose. And regardless of the little voice in my head telling myself I was creating more problems than it was worth, I couldn't help but get goose bumps that ran down my spine as he the DJ played one of his songs and he recited the lyrics to 'One Dance' in my ear. A private concert just for me. I had resigned myself to only dancing and flirting, but the way he held his hand on my leg was so sensual. I couldn't help but be swept away in the moment, the way he held my face and when he looked into my eyes it felt like he was looking right into my soul. I thought to myself 'does he make all the girls feel like this?'. But then I would turn away at the last second, guilt starting to swarm in my belly. I knew Natsu and I wheren't official or anything, I was at perfect liberty to kiss whomever I like. And maybe I should have, it was taking Natsu so damn long I was more than a little anxious that the feelings where not mutual. And if that was the case, if I was totally misreading Natsu, then I was being a stupid dumb bitch for not letting Drake kiss me now.

Drake could feel my body starting to become rigid and he stopped trying to kiss me. Thankfully the song ended and we scurried back to our booth before the next song. The following seconds where long and painfully awkward, we both took a sip of our respective beverages. "So who is he?" Drake finally asked, in a manner that was more than a little snarky.

"Who is who?" I asked back, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't play coy with me. I can tell when a girls got a man back home." He said sighing and downing the last of his congac.

I gave into all pretenses and let my shoulders droop. "I'm not really sure." I admit.

"You're not sure who he is?" Asked Drake, teasing me a little, which was nice because it meant he wasn't too terribly mad at him for leading him on.

"Oh no. Haha. His name is Natsu. I mean, I'm not really sure what we are."

"Natsu!? You mean that pink haired motherfucker? The one that breaths fire and shit?"

"The very same." I sigh, slouching in deeper into the leather booth.

"Man, I'm glad you stopped me. Last thing I need is a tousle with that guy."

"Heh. Yeah. No kidding."

"So what's goin' on? He got a side chick or something? Don't tell me you're the side thing, you're way too pretty to be anybody's seconds."

I couldn't help blushing. "No, no nothing like that." I laughed. For the rest of the evening I poured my little heart out to Drake. To his credit he nodded and "uh huh'd" at all the right times. Yet I couldn't figure out what would motivate someone like him to spend what was left of his evening to listen to my stupid boy problems. After I was all finished, he sat quiet for so long I started to wonder if he'd been actually listening at all. A waiter brought him a new drink and he took a generous gulp before he said thoughtfully.

"Sounds to me like you need to be a little patient. You and your guilds been going through a lot lately, I'm sure everyone's emotions are all over the place. It's never good to jump into something like that in the heat of the action, trust me." He laughed a little to himself. "I would know. Besides, maybe you should be the one to come forward first, maybe he's intimidated by you."

I practically spit out my drink. "I'm SURE that's not it." I burst out.

"I don't mean physically. I mean emotionally, a lot of times those guys that are big and tuff on the outside are that way because of how insecure they are on the inside. Man are you sure you're a fan? Ever listen to ANY of my song lyrics?"

I'd been so caught up in my own feelings that I never stopped to think that maybe Natsu was feeling the same way. Shoot, I never would have guessed it based on the way he always teases me. Before I could reply however Lisanna appeared in front of me, practically carrying a very distraught and disheveled Mirajane. "We've gotta go!" Shouted Lisanna urgently.

"Yeah! Of course! What happened!?" I ask standing up and doing the mental check list of phone, wallet, keys. "Last time I saw her she was on cloud nine!" Mirajane was barely conscious, her mascara was all down her face like she,d been crying, her nose all red.

"Left her for another model. The betrayal of a century." Said Lisanna, trying to push Mirajane onto both of her feet. Surely sober Mirajane would have just let the situation roll off her back, but drunk Mirajane was hugely distraught over the ordeal.

"Take my car." Offered Drake, standing up to assist us.

"Oh thanks, but you don't have to…" Started Lisanna.

"I insist. I'll just order another one, no big deal."

As soon as the front doors of the club opened we were bombarded by a dozen flashing cameras. It had never dawned on me that there might be paparazzi outside, never had it even crossed my mind. The flash of the cameras was blinding, and I had to blink about 50 times before I realized what was happening. Lisanna and Mirajane being paparazzi veterans made a B line for the Mercedes on the curb, Lisanna doing her best to shield Mirajane's face with her purse.

"Lucy! Lucy! Over here!" A few of them where shouting, I stopped when I heard my name to look, purely out of reflex. Drake grabbed my arm.

"First time eh?" He said calm and cool as a cucumber.

"Wha….? O….yeah…" I said stupidly as he ushered me into the back of his Mercedes with Lisanna and Mirajane. He went to slam the door shut on us before I stopped him. "Wait!" I said, putting my hand out. "Why me!?" I grew to balls to ask, otherwise I would have gone over tonight with him in my head a million times and never find the answer.

He shrugged "I can see people, and I see you Lucy Heartphelia." Was all Drake said before he slammed the door and we drove off into the night.

"Which one of you harebrained idiot's idea was this again?" Groaned Urza, sweeping her crimson hair into a pony tail as she sat in the back of the Escalade.

"Laxus, obviously." Replied Jellal in his usual tone of beguilement.

"Figures." Huffed Erza. She had only gone along with the plan because she knew we'd be doing this with or without her. Laxus had gotten a voicemail from one of Makarov's old friends in the Senate. Intel confirmed that there was to be an armed shipment of cocaine to be delivered from through Meixco to LA. Of course the National Guard didn't want their grubby paws on what was likely to be a messy job. They offered us 2.2 million to confiscate the shipment, and of course they'd promise to look the other way at any casualties that might occur. That was the reason for such a quick turnaround between missions, it was too much money for Laxus to refuse, especially given the state of the guild hall. He'd ushered Gajeel, Gray, Juvia and Cana off on some random mission so they didn't ask too many questions. Laxus left the girls with Gildarts incase Sabre tooth or the Oracion Seis decide to come sniffing around while we're gone. Apparently Mirajane was this month's centerfold for some dumb magazine so she had to stick around. Gildarts was the only one other than the four of us who knew about the plan, seeing as he's also an "S" class wizard. Needless to say he wasn't too thrilled about being left out of the action.

Laxus, who had been driving, pulled the Escalade off on the side of the road to wait for what we knew to be a Uhaul and two F-150's. He'd popped the hood to make it appear as though we had been stranded on the side of the road. "Ugh. And now we wait." I sighed kicking my boots up onto the dash.

After sitting there for over an hour we'd started to get on each other's nerves. Laxus was playing with electricity snapping between his fingers. I had pulled the black ball cap I'd been wearing to help conceal my pink hair, over my eyes in an attempt at a nap. "Would you cut that out already!" Snapped Jellal.

Laxus's reply was cut short as a singular F-150 came into view in the rearview mirror. A couple seconds later followed by what was unmistakably a U-Haul. I slowly pulled my feet off the dash and sat upright, Jellal rolled up the sleeves of his white dress shirt he always wore, Erza requipped into some golden warrior princess getup in preparation for what was to come. Soon enough the three vehicles that had been described to us whizzed by. Wheels spinning on the loose gravel off the side of the road Laxus took off after them. The chase had begun.

Luckily the terrain was pretty much flat and desert because we were easily pushing 120mph. I watched as a man in each pickup truck climbed into the bed. I unbuckled my seatbelt and sat up straighter, my hand resting on the handle ready to bail at any moment. I watched as each man in the pickups reached back into the cab for something, I had a hunch.

"Jellal!" I said.

"I see them, Natsu." Jellal replied. I took quick peak at the two of them in the back seat. They had also unbuckled their seatbelts and mimicked my hand on the door handle. The sound of rapid machine gun fired, and just as quickly Jellal set off a force field so big it knocked the F-150's off balance and they were swerving all over the road to regain control. Laxus was too busy trying to keep the Escalade straight on course that he didn't have time to rain lightning upon them. The next logical step was for me to do something. I pushed the sunroof button.

"What in the hell do you think you're doing Natsu!?" Shouted Erza.

"Expediting things!" I shout back as I crawl up onto the roof of the car. It takes me a moment to maintain my balance. Almost immediately the F-150's start firing again, in the black truck it was an AR-15 and in the blue one an AK 47. Tomayto, tomahto really. Luckily Jellal set off another force field, making my job both easier and harder. Easier because I didn't have to try and dodge any bullets, harder because it causes Laxus to swerve, forcing me to hold onto the rails on the roof for support. I blasted balls of flames in their direction, causing the men to scream in agony from their burns. Whelp, that solves that problem.

"Natsu! You idiot! You could have fallen! And then what!?" Scolded Erza as I slid back into my seat.

"Yeah… but I didn't." I say turning around in my seat to give her a big ol' shit eating grin.

"Must you two bicker constantly…" Groaned Jellal running a hand down his face.

"I've had enough of this…. Natsu, take the wheel." Ordered Laxus as he kept his foot on the accelerator, took his hands off the wheel and closed his eyes.

"Wha!? Are you crazy Laxus!" I said, dashing for the steering wheel to awkwardly steer over Laxus's lap. In spite of boisterous protests for Erza, Laxus held his hand out in front of his torso, concentrating. There was a flash of light before a great crack of thunder, three different streaks of lightening all at the same time. The largest streak of lightning hit the U-haul on the left side of the box truck causing it to flip over on its side before skidding across the highway to a stop. The second and third lightning bolts hit the F-150's one straight onto the engine causing the truck to do a fantastic, Hollywood movie style front flip. The third truck barely got clipped the bed of the truck, and it was now speeding away. Laxus opened his eyes and slammed on the breaks as I drifted us to a halt. We all wordlessly piled out of the Escalade, assuming our defense line that was so natural to us by now that nobody had to even call out orders.

The door to the back of the U-haul lifted as series of gang members crawled out. There were two men left alive climbing out of the F-150, and four from the U-haul. The men from the truck started firing off their assault rifles at us, as we continued to advance on them, so confident we were in Jellal's force fields that we didn't so much as blink. I was measuring up our opponents. Six to four, not good odds. I'd had had a hunch that the biggest threat would have been inside the U-haul…. I was right. The men with machine guns on the trucks had been just that, men with machine guns. The three men and one women in the U-haul where wizards, and the strangest group of fucking wizards I'd ever laid eyes on. Perhaps the strangest of all was an albino man maybe a few years older than myself, he had great big pallid moth wings with black dots that he held tucked around his body like a cloak. Then there was a woman, who appeared as though her skin was made out of a type of quartz, my guess is that her special ability was super strength. The other two appeared normal, so it was anybody's guess what type of magic they possessed, but based on the magical energy they were giving off, they were no joke. The look they had on their faces had to mimic the stern looks we had on our faces.

Bullets continued to rain down on us, static electricity was snapping at Laxus's hands, my own ignited in flame, Erza's swords at the ready. One of the male wizards gave us a deadly smirk, he had too many moles on his face and he was wearing a stupid hipster button up that was buttoned all the way to the very top. What a dweeb. Before I could figure out what the prick was smiling about however, the earth beneath our feet began to rumble violently and a crack straight down the middle of the asphalt growing in diameter and speed into a deep fault line. Jellal and I jumped to one side, Erza and Laxus on the other. I didn't have any time to process or react though, Moth Man had taken to the skies and started to use a sound wave attack myself and Jellal. Jellal dashed forward out of the way to take on the hipster earth magic dude, I wasn't so lucky.

For a moment I cowered, covering my ears in pain and discomfort. My stats are weak against echo location type attacks, mostly because there's nobody in the guild with this type of magical ability to practice against. The millisecond he stopped his attack I blasted off my feet straight for him. I can't fly, but if I concentrate my fire to the soles of my feet I can jump decent enough. I just barely grabbed onto the fabric of his white jeans, trying to throw him off balance with my lopsided weight. Moth man's flight ability was stronger than I had anticipated and he stayed airborne as he fruitlessly, tried to kick me off. Instead I climbed up his body as he repeatedly kept trying to shove me off, but I was too strong for him, clutching on by the fabric of his silk shirt. He flew us in all kinds of crazy patterns, barrel rolls, zig zags, dives. Eventually I felt confident enough to let go of his shirt with one hand. With my superior reflexes I caught one of his wings mid-flutter. Crushing part of his flimsy wing flesh in my hand, I then ignited his wing on fire as he shot me with another one of his sound wave attacks and I dropped out of the air like a rock. I hit the pavement tactlessly, like a bag of wet sand. Sucking in air through my teeth I pushed myself up, holding the fresh road rash on my shoulder and arm. I had regrouped in time to see Moth Man spiraling out of the sky, his right wing covered in embers that where eating away at paper thin flesh, burning up like an autumn leaf.

He cried out in excruciating agony, he beat his wings vigorously in a failed attempted put the flames out, but he was beating a dead horse. All that was left of his right wing was nubs of the grotesque cartilaginous bone that protruded from his spinal column. A slight breeze carried away with it the last bits of ash. Moth man paused for a moment, his focus on the bit a highway in front of him. My eye's didn't leave his shape for an instant, not even as the sky grew dark with the shadow of a thousand blades summoned by one of Erza's familiar attacks. When the Moth man finally did look up it was cold determination he had in his blood shot eyes. This was no longer a job for him, I'd taken his wings, now this was personal. A venomous smirk spread across my face before a shower of knives and swords rained down on us. Using the sole fires for added speed I closed the distance between us, adjusting left and right as I navigated Erza's spell. Moth man sprang forward for me as well, his mouth opening to prepare for yet another kind of sound wave attack. Hoops of energy pulsed and grew out of his mouth like a kind of oversized, deadly smoke rings. I ducked under the largest one, and braced for a smaller ring with my fore arms. My opponent started to retreat backwards, finally realizing that he did not want to let me get too close. All of his attacks where more effective mid-range, and the closer the let me get, the venerable he was. But it was too late for him, I was too fast. I acted like I was going to hit him from the front, then I feigned left, summoning Igneel's fury to sheer him in the back with it. Moth man fell to his knees first, clotted blood pooling from his lips. Without remorse I pulled the sword out of his body and let him fall forward onto his face.

Moth man and the two gun men where the only casualties that day. Admittedly "capturing" wasn't one of my strong suits. We turned the other two wizards, a spare henchmen and a truck full of cocaine over to the FBI, who proceeded to write us a fat check.

Lucy H.: Have a safe flight!J

Was the message my phone buzzed to life with as soon as the fasten seatbelt sign chimed off. Monotonously I shuffled past rows of seating to deboard the plane. The rest of the group was waiting for me by a Hallmark kiosk across from our gate.

"I think we're in baggage claim E." Stated Jellal as he thumbed through our reservation on his phone.

"Well since Natsu and I don't have a checked bag, why don't we go grab the car and meet you in the arrivals lane." Suggested Laxus. Really Erza had been the only one with anything more than a back pack.

"Fine with me." I said, shrugging lazily. That when I saw it. Behind Laxus was a magazine display case filled with gossip magazines, normally I could give a flying fuck about any magazine or media coverage, however this time a familiar face caught my attention. It was Lucy. Plastered on the cover of STARS caught in a paparazzi friendzy, being helped into a black sedan by none other Drake. The caption's read "New from Fairy Tail" "Drake's Cinderella" "Lucy Heartfelia. Who is she!?" It felt like I had been stabbed in the chest, I'm not sure what hurt worse, the fact that in one night she'd so easily swoon for an A list celebrity, or that dressed as she was, she looked like a celebrity herself. Like a regular Kardashian or somethin'. I felt like I was looking down a long tunnel with the horrible vision of Lucy ducking under Drake's arm to climb into a discrete black sedan. A pit was formed in my stomach and I contemplated burning down the whole magazine rack.

"You ready? Natsu?...Natsu! Hey! Are you alright man?" Vaguely I recalled Laxus standing there as he placed a heavy hand on my shoulder. When I didn't reply, he followed my gaze. Slowly comprehension melted across his face. "Aaahh fuck."


	17. Chapter 17s

Chapter 17

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

I was sitting in the main hall half-heartedly playing cards with Cana, who had returned along with the other members of her group yesterday. My foot was bouncing obnoxiously under the table as I was anxious for Natsu's return, which should've been any minute. Cana caught my continued sideways glances at the front door. She took a long look at me, concern swarming in her eyes, she sighed laying her cards down on the table.

"It'll be alright Lucy…" Started Cana, reaching out to place a warm hand over mine. I hadn't specifically discussed my predicament with Cana yet, but it was obvious, everybody knew. I had already talked over the issue at length with Mirajane over breakfast. Her advice had been to stand my ground, to corner Natsu with his own feelings. A small part me of however knew that that was a bad idea. "Just tell him how you feel. If you're not transparent about these things, it's only going cause more hurt and confusion." Finished Cana simply.

I'd never had really had any kind of meaningful conversation with Cana before, her blunt sincerity startled me. Her advice had been the exact opposite of Mirajane's, leaving my thoughts more muddled and confused. I opened my mouth to reply, but just then the oversized double doors of the guild hall creaked open. My heart caught in my chest, expecting Natsu to fly in here, flames bursting out of every orifice, I cringed in anticipation. But it wasn't Natsu. It was Laxus who shuffled in, followed by Erza, then Jelal carrying Erza's luggage and finally…. Natsu. I scooted my chair out from the table and stood up. I tried to make eye contact with him to try to gage how this was going to go down, but he wasn't even glancing in my direction. Instead he was hiding behind his messy battle worn hair.

Wendy came galloping down the hallway when she heard the voices of the S-Class wizards. In a blur of silky black hair, she slung her arms around Erza and Jelal. "I'm so glad you guys are alright!" She squealed. "I was so worried about all of you!"

"I'd have thought you'd have had a little more faith in us than that." Chuckled Erza as she hugged Wendy back.

"Nice to see you made it back." Boomed Gildarts thumping Laxus on the back. And just like that the Fairy Tail guild hall was filled with reception and laughter. A cold feeling cloaked over my skin. I was expecting a hell raising fury, maybe he hasn't seen it yet? No, that's impossible. Someone would have seen, online or in the airport. He would have replied to my text otherwise, there's no way he doesn't know. Clenching my cold sweaty palms, I took a deep breath and maneuvered my way across the room to where Gajeel and Gray where greeting Natsu, albeit in their own way.

"Hey Natsu, glad to see you're back." I said as normally as I dared to, serving him a weak smile. Gray and Gajeel fell into an awkward silence. Still refusing to meet my gaze, Natsu just brushed past me and started to march towards the direction of the bedrooms. His icy indifference was worse any kind of temper tantrum he could have thrown. My heart started to thump out of fear, fear that I had just destroyed whatever it was between us. I had expected that he'd be mad, yell and scream, call me names, lock me away, but I hadn't expected this. "Natsu!" I say chasing after him, I nearly tripped over a bench in my haste to catch up with him. "Natsu Wait!" I shout as I regain my balance. But he didn't stop, he did even spare me a look over his shoulder. I reached out to touch the back of his arm and he yanked it away from me. At least thankful to be away from everyone else by this point I asked. "Would you at least listen to me!?" I demanded, tears stinging my eyes. He opened the door to his room and paused in the doorway, to glance at me over his shoulder.

Finally, he turned to face me, slicking his greasy pink hair back. "What did you join Fairy Tail for anyways Lucy?" His voice started out more calm and disappointed before building with heat. "Was it just your way to fame and fortune!? Huh!? You gunna fuck old guys for a Birkin bags too? No, Lucy I don't want to listen to anything you have to say anymore, in fact I can't even stand to look at your face." He snarled before he slammed the door in my face so hard it made my hair blow back.

The tears that had been welling in my eyes rolled hot over my cheeks. I cupped my hands over my mouth to stifle the sobs that balled in my throat. "Oh yeah!?" I shouted at the closed door, the fact that I was crying evident in my voice but I was too hurt and angry to care. "Well maybe if you'd grown a pair, none of this would have happened in the first place!" The lock to his room sliding home was Natsu's only reply.

Hours later I was laying on top of my bed, fully clothed, wishing nothing more than to go next door and pummel Gray and Gajeel. They were playing video games so loud it was vibrating the walls. There was a soft knock on my door and my stomach twisted into knots thinking that it was Lucy. A pause and then another soft knock. "It's not Lucy." Said a lofty voice I recognized. I was so shocked by who it was that I sat up. She must have heard the creak of my bed springs because she asked. "Are you going to let me in?"

Out of pure curiosity I got up and opened the door a sliver to see the last person I would have suspected to be standing there. "She didn't go home with him." Blurted out Lisanna slapping a hand on the door to prevent me from slamming it in her face. I blinked, dazed for a moment. If Lisanna was saying it, then it must be the truth, she'd have no reason to lie for Lucy. Lisanna forced her way in, closing the door behind her. "I know. I was there. Mira decided to be a hot mess…. Again." She sighed but continued on. "Drake was just being nice and letting us use his car to take her home."

Stubbornly I crossed my arms. "What do I care?" I gruffed. "Lucy can go with whomever she likes. Everybody always acts like Lucy and I are dating, but we're not." I bite out. "Even so, Lucy obviously had made some kind of impression on the rapper for him to roll out the 'white knight' act."

"Oh come on don't play me for a fool Natsu." Lisanna glared up at me from under her pinched eyebrows. "Lucy was turning Drake down at every turn. Although I will give the man props at some suave attempts." While we had talked Lisanna was slowly giving herself a tour of my room, she went over to my desk and started going through my things. "It was the girl next door's first day out… try not to be too hard on her." Lisanna chimed in a fake pout as she picked up and began inspecting the crossbow that was leaning against my desk, left over from practice earlier.

"Funny." I smirked leaning against one of the pillars of my four poster bed. Just as Lisanna was scrutinizing my room, I was scrutinizing her. Lisanna, the girl I'd known ever since we were 13 at a wizards training summer camp. The girl that had loved me, the women who had betrayed me. For the most part she seemed alarmingly the same. With her white pixie haircut, her face reminiscent of a Botticelli angel and her characteristic of being wise yet aloof all at the same time. There was no denying she was beautiful, in a kind of ethereal way, even after everything I could admit that much. "You're the last person I'd expect to be jumping to her defense." I finally say. I was curious to know myself why Lisanna seemed to have so much loyalty for Lucy already, she'd only joined the guild a couple of months ago.

Lisanna shrugged, picking up the heavy crossbow to aim it at me playfully, I didn't bother tensing up, there were no arrows in it. "What can I say? I sort of like the girl. And besides…" She pulled the trigger, the mechanism loudly sliding forwards. "I think she'd be good for you."

"Sure that's not just guilt you feel?" I say unable to refrain myself from the snide smirk on my face. Lisanna's face immediately soured, but she let go of the crossbow and recovered quickly. She walked along my bed, tracing her fingertips along my bed spread almost as if she was remembering something.

"Oh Natsu." She chastised. "You never could tell the difference between loving someone and being in love with someone."

"Forgive me if I don't heed your advice."

"Fair enough." She hummed.

"Are you going to get to the point or are you just going to keep touching my things?"

"I can tell you're in love with her…. I can tell better than anyone. You can tell Gray and Gajeel and everyone else she's nothing but a friend, shit, you can even tell yourself. But I know. I can tell by how you look at her. You used to look at me that way. Can't blame you Natsu, she is stunning. Truly. So try not to be so upset when other men notice, alright? Don't let your insecurities about how poorly we ended things…."

"How poorly WE ended things!? You fucking…" I growled, my patience for her growing ever thinner.

But Lisanna pretended not to hear me. "I've decided to like her because being in love will keep you alive, Natsu. It'll give you something to think about other than constant bloodshed…. A reason to make it home…." Her eye's flitted up like something had caught her attention. She walked over to the dresser and reached out a hand to pick up the frame she'd given me ages ago. It was the picture of us on spring break, one of the few vacations I'd ever taken.

"Get the fuck out of my room, Lisanna." I say with as much forced politeness as I could muster.

"Oh Natsu." She sighed as she examined the photo with an expression that might be interpreted as maternal. "You never where very good at letting go." She shoved the picture frame into my chest on her way out of the door. I stood there in silence, at a loss for a good insult. Lisanna slithered out of the room, letting the door shut softly behind her. As soon as she was gone, I dunked the picture into the waste paper basket under my desk.

I had come to realize that I had relied entirely too much my strange, whatever-it-was I had with Natsu, for a sense of status and purpose with in the guild. I had always idolized guilds and the work they get to do, but I guess I had never really considered my joining one as a viable option. Like anyone else would have done, I thrust myself into this wild opportunity I was presented with. Don't get me wrong, I was grateful for the consideration Laxus and everyone else was showing me. But the next several weeks had become some of the loneliest in my life. I had stepped away from everything I had been familiar with, my own house, my own dorm room, my own friends, my own job, my own life. Life in a guild was very different, we were all tied to each other in a sort of marriage. But for me, I was in a marriage to basically a bunch of strangers. I began to understand why intra-guild relationships where so taboo, because if things don't work out it's not like you can just walk away exactly. Ex's have to maintain at least a working level of communication and respect. For me, the one person I could rely on the most, to help me navigate this new way of life wasn't exactly on speaking terms with me right now. As for everybody else, they were adjusting to life with me, just as I was adjusting to life with them. My recent inclusion had probably affected Erza's life the most, seeing as she now she had taken over the responsibility of training me.

"Get up!" She scoffed as I peeled myself off the matts. She had just kicked me in the back of my head, and without being well enough prepared, I flopped forwards onto the matts, falling hard on my face. "Stop feeling so sorry for yourself!" She scolded as I sniffed snot and a bit of blood from my nose with my arm, like a child. My only response was to hold my feet shoulder width apart, bend me knees, and prepare for the next one. Today was mixed martial arts, a subject that I struggled with. Turns out my years of dance practice and cheerleading didn't amount to much. Erza came forwards again. You would have thought her fighting style was wildly strong and ferocious like that of a man's. But it wasn't. It was a steel frame of nothing less than perfection. With impeccable timing, perfect posture and a relentless technique she was intimidating to say the least.

Blocked the first kick with my arm, which hurt but at least I was still standing. Ducked under the second kick, but I could feel the air move above my head. When I popped back up again I tried for a swing with my right arm, hoping to catch her between moves, but her defense was too strong and she bumped my arm out of the way with hers. I could see Erza shift her body weight onto one side, the way she did when she was about to kick with her opposite foot. I pivoted to the side hoping to avoid another kick to the head, what it earned me was a fist to my stomach as Erza was always, impossibly, one step ahead.

"You're very aware of your body Lucy, which is a good thing. That is hard to teach. However, you move entirely way too much. You're going to ware yourself out. Stay here ..." Erza demonstrated, swaying her hips from side to side seductively. "See? I've barely moved from where I started. Try again"

"Ever think of easing up pressure a little bit?" I whined as I panted, hands on my thighs trying to catch my breath before she made me do it all over again.

"Out there, an opponent will not soften their blows, so neither will I. You've got to take this seriously Lucy."

"Alright." I panted, squaring up. "Let go again then."

After practice I'd showered and went to class, where I found out to complete shock that Levi and Gajeel where now going steady. I wanted to be excited for Levi, but instead, selfishly, it made me feel more alone than ever. By the time I'd come back to the guild after class, and a bit of time studying at the library, it was well after 9:00pm. At this time on week days usually everybody was in their own room. Gildarts was the only one left in the guildhall, he was slouched on a plush leather couch in the guildhall watching the news. Trying not to feel so sorry for myself by eating a TV dinner alone in my room, I decided to bring it out to the couch, if nothing else but to avoid solitude. I felt better when I was constantly busy, but when the work was done and night sets in, that's' when it's the worst.

Gildarts barely glanced in my direction as I slumped myself on the same couch. He leaned forward and for a horrible moment I thought he was about to get up and leave, but instead he had been grabbing a beer out of the case at his feet. "You'll need that after the week you've just had." He said as he handed me a can of Rolling Rock. This guy drinks the green death!? What an animal.

"Huh. Thanks." I said, accepting the can. "But how did you know?"

"You're wearing yourself too thin, Lucy. You're getting anxious because your grades are starting to slip and you're starting to worry that you'll never get them caught up in time. All the while Erza's frustrated with you because you've reached a plateau in your progress and neither you nor her can figure out why."

"I guess I didn't realized you paid such close attention Gildarts." I said. I was always unsure how I felt about Gildarts every time I talked to him. I couldn't tell if he didn't like me, of if that was just the way he was.

"Once you've been around the block as I have, you start to see patterns. Lisanna, Mirajane, Juvia, they were all like you once. About three to six months in you start to doubt your decision, wonder if you've made the right choice. About joining a guild, about Fairy Tail. It's not too late…."

I gasped. "I would never quit Fairy Tail!" I may have said a little too aggressively, but I was offended he'd even suggest such a thing.

"Wouldn't be any shame in it if you did." Gildarts leaned his arm over the back of the couch. "You still have a home to go to, a life beyond these walls. You can still go back."

"What? So you're trying to get me to leave?" I say defensively. "I'm not as delicate as I look you know." Refusing to admit to him that I'd been having similar thoughts myself. When it came time to admit my doubts outload however, I realized how strongly felt about Fairy Tail. "You think because things are a little tough for me right now that I'm just going to pack up and go home like a good little girl!? What kind of patriarchal…. manipulative …" I'd set my plate down, my chest filling up with steam.

"It's nothing personal Lucy." Interrupted Gildarts. "You seem like a nice girl. Shit I wouldn't be saying this if I didn't kind of like ya. Always can use somebody with a sense of humor around here." He said thumping my back a little too hard. Then he gestured towards the TV screen where the news anchor was covering an incident that involving a guild in Nebraska where a whole building was destroyed killing 7 people. The footage showed survivor's being rescued from the rubble, covered in a white ash. "It's getting worse and worse out there, and this is only the beginning. Last time shit like this was happening it was the start of the Cold War. And it's worse this time. A lot worse, I can feel it. During times of war Guilds are… well… we become little more than soldiers. This isn't your fight Lucy, and the way you and Natsu are carrying on, there's a very real chance you're going to get caught in the thick of things."

"What do you mean? What does Natsu have to do with all this? Why are you talking about war?" I asked, trying to read through the lines, yet it still felt like I was missing something.

"Don't you worry about that. Worry about where you want to be when shit hits the fan."

The next morning, I was getting ready for a kick boxing lesson with Erza when my phone vibrated on my bed.

Laxus: Come to my office, I have an assignment for you.

Nervous but excited I quickly pulled my hair up into a high pony tail, kicked on some Nike's and practically ran down stairs and across the guild hall to Laxus's office. It had been almost a month since my last 'mission' if you could call it that. I was anxious to get out in the field again, training all day every day is necessary, but it can sure get monotonous fast if you're not careful. The door to Laxus's office was open and I came to a screeching halt when I saw who else was in it. Natsu was standing in front of Laxus's desk moving his arms animatedly as he argued with Laxus.

"I'm not sure what kind of joke you're trying to pull Laxus, but it's not fucking funny." Yelled Natsu, without realizing I was standing in the doorway behind him. Laxus noticed me first, his hands laced together gently on top of his desk.

"Lucy!" He welcomed cheerfully, as though he was mocking Natsu's foul mood.

"Hi… uh…. What's going on here?" I asked, the awkwardness of the situation making me feel shy.

"I've got the perfect assignment for you and Natsu!" Said Laxus resisting the urge to grin from ear to ear. Natsu's ears turned bright red, and his hands where balled into fists. I stepped forward, refusing to let Natsu intimidate me.

"Right." I said, stealing myself a quick sideways glance at Natsu. He was wearing nice jeans and a red flannel with the sleeves rolled up. "What is it and when do we start?"

"I'm glad at least someone in this guild acts professional." Sighed Laxus, sliding the folder across his desk to Natsu.

"Fucking brother my ass…" I mumbled to myself as I ripped open the driver side door to my own gun metal grey Hellcat. Lucy had trotted along behind me and slid into the passenger seat.

"Want me to plug the address into my phone?" She asked in an attempt at normalcy.

"No, I know where it's at." I retorted shortly as I backed out of the garage.

"Oh. Okay." She answered like a meek little mouse. There was silence for most of the car ride, the air stale between us. I really didn't feel like talking to her let alone going on this stupid mission just to baby sit her. She'd made a couple attempts at polite conversation that I either gave one word answers for or rudely ignored all together. Eventually she accepted that I didn't want to talk and fell silent, staring outside the passenger window as the wet autumn scenery blurred past us with the deafening roar of the V8. Our assignment was just outside of town at a genetic engineering research lab. The lab had been running routine experiments on some of the lab rats, they'd been crispering demon genetics with a rats. Anytime you're working with demons you're working by extension with Satan himself, those cock suckers should've known better. Apparently they've accidentally created mutant rats the lab can no longer control, they've had to evacuate. Figures.

I pulled into to the large empty parking lot intended for the employees of the facility. "You ready?" I tossed over at Lucy, finally looking in her direction. She looked more like she was ready for Pilates or something,' what with her pink Nike's and her high ponytail.

"Yeah." She nodded, clicking off her cellphone. "Let's get this over with." She sighed as she popped the handle open and stepped out of the car.

The rats had been contained off into the B section of the building behind thick plexiglass walls that had biosecurity warning tape wrapped around it. Lucy held up a keycard that we had been given in our folder up to a reader by the door. A tiny green light flashed and the door unlocked. Without looking to me for reassurance Lucy carried on, I followed behind her letting the door behind me seal us in. It wasn't long before we heard ruckus coming from some of the rooms. A loud crashing sound like instruments hitting the floor came from room 101B as we passed it. Lucy went up to the door to peep through the small, reinforced window. This time she did look back at me for reassurance. I gave her a stiff nod with my folded arms. Cautiously she creaked the door open to reveal a hoard of chaos.

The room was filled with rows and rows of terrariums that had been the rats' former homes. Every single tank however, was broken with shards of class covering the floors. It's escaped inhabitants not difficult to find as they were all over the floor, clinging onto shelves and walls with their claws. They were hairless, insidious beings that have a mild resemblance to a rodent, what with their bucked teeth and beady little eyes. To Lucy's credit she didn't scream, which was a feat because admittedly I wanted to. Some were covered in pustules, some in leathery demon-like skin and some still had hair yet. They were perhaps the ugliest living creature's I'd ever seen. And that's saying something for a man who lives with Gray. Lucy did however dig in her side pouch for one of her keys. She managed to summon Virgo, and she started making quick work of the mutant rats with her twin spiked maces.

"Bit of an eager beaver are we?" I mumbled from behind Lucy. She turned around.

"What was that?" She asked.

"Nothing." I replied, rolling my eyes and pushing my sleeves up.

The three of us set to work on what was pretty much sword fodder. Laxus was right, it was good practice for Lucy. Hordes of light weight enemies that where fast and coming at her from 360 degrees meant that she had to be aware of her surroundings. After about 10-15 minutes and piles of mutant rat carcasses, it seemed we hadn't even made a dent in the population, more and more just kept coming. Lucy shot me a questioning look, I simply shrugged and we kept at the chugging along for another good 20 minuets. I kept noticing a noise from upstairs but for the time being I ignored it, thinking it was probably monkeys or pigs or something from a different study. It wasn't long before Lucy began to hear it to.

"Do you hear that!?" She shouted at me over the loud squeaks and squeals of the rats.

"Yeah." I shout back as I riffled off balls of hot energy and air. "And it's getting louder." I admitted.

"What do you think it is?" She asked as she twirled around, her whip cracking behind her. As she turned her shoelaces got hung up on a wheeled cart and she tripped over herself unceremoniously. Despite myself I had to hold back a snicker.

A particularly enlarged and grotesque rat scampered across the floor under my feet, screeching and headed straight for Lucy, who was still trying to free her shoe laces from the wheeled cart. "Oh no ya don't." I smirked as I stepped on its tail, then speared it with my sword. For a moment it shrieked even louder before it went limp.

"Natsu! Look out!" I looked up to see Lucy lunging towards me. She collides with me so hard I fall straight on my back on top of all the broken glass. There was a loud crack and the ceiling came crumbling to the floor right over the spot I had been standing, a shower broken furniture and plaster rained down from the ceiling. Of course Lucy had landed conveniently on top of me, and I was not unaware of her breasts pressed against my chest.

"What the fuck!" I curse, both at her and at whatever it was that had made the ceiling collapse.

"S-sorry." Lucy apologized pushing herself off me.

"Sheesh, just holler next time why don't cha." I grumble, standing up and brushing myself off.

"I said I was sorry." She quipped back irritably.

A deranged wet roar sounded above us, accompanied by thunderous foot prints that shook the ceiling.

"What in the…" Lucy started to say. Before she could finish her sentence I was jogging out of the door trying to find a way upstairs. Aggravated that Lucy followed me, I turned to give her a dirty look before bursting through the door labeled "stairs." Predictably she decided to follow me anyways. I could hear her heavy breathing climbing the stairs behind me. I opened the door to the floor above, at that exact moment there was an eerie silence. I whipped around to hush at Lucy as she had clumsily let the heavy door slam behind her. She cringed and we both stood there for a moment like statues. Nothing happened. I crept forwards onto a floor that seemed to be mainly offices with checkered linoleum floors, a front secretary's desk with a fake plant and dusty magazines. There were two hallways that forked and where lined with numbered doors. That didn't seem right to me, what I could tell through the hole in the ceiling downstairs was that the floor above was some kind of lab with black lights. Doesn't make sense if the stairs took us to a floor full of offices.

"I'll check out this hallway; you check that hallway." Ordered Lucy in a whisper as if she was the one taking charge. Reluctantly I nodded, but only because I was about to say the same thing. Slowly and quietly I began opening doors, the first two where regular offices, the third a break room. I ran my hands over the edges of bookshelves and underneath desks. There had to be the entrance to the secret lab somewhere. The fourth room was a Women's rest room and the fifth room was…locked. Luckily the handle was just metal, no magic or tricks so far as I could tell. I grasped the handle firmly and allowed the fire on my arm to melt the stainless steel door handle and lock. Over the smell of melting carpet, I walked into an office that was filled with, presumably, locked file cabinets. In retrospect, it was dumb to leave such obvious evidence of breaking and entering into the record room, especially since we had been hired to specifically to kill off the rats on a completely different floor. But what the hell, I was curious. I wanted to know what else this lab was up to, could they by chance be dealing with any dragon blood? It didn't seem so farfetched when they were already tampering with demon DNA.

I began thumbing through the drawers on the desk. For the most part they were full of normal stuff like paper clips and pens and printer paper. The last drawer had a handgun in it. Then I began filing through loose papers on the desk. The name of the person who owned this desk was Katterina L. Andrews. There was a Cover letter with attached resume for an intern position at the lab. A bill from the electrical company, which was so enormous it raised some of my suspicions. Some random receipts, but beneath all of the junk was a couple of case files. I opened one of them.

 _Subject: HL47_

 _Species:_ _Homo;_ _Linnaeus_

 _Date of birth: 4/16/2005_

 _Date of death: 11/2/2018_

 _Genetic augmentation: Telomeres spliced with troll DNA._

 _Notes:_

 _Since embryotic implantation, pregnancy carried as normal. Subject reached fetal maturity with hyperkeratinization on temporal bones as well as vertebrae. Subject has a phenotypically humanoid features. …._

It went on like this for several pages. Not having the time or the patience I flipped to the back, hoping to find the cause of death.

 _Subject has reached sexual maturity, and with puberty there seems to be increased anxiety, and at times, violence. Subject tried to escape, security had to stop him, giving the subject a compound fracture of the right humorous. Based on the study performed by Purdue University in 2003, it is believed that Trolls and Troll-like creatures are highly resistant to antibiotics. Subject succumbed to gangrene, despite all attempts at a medical intervention._

I had just started to pick up the second folder when Lucy screamed down the other hall. My heart felt like it had been stuck with a cattle prod and I bolted out of the room, down the other hallway to where Lucy's scream came from. She was in room 9, the door was still a jar. I skidded as I turned the corner into the room. It was another office. Except in this one, Lucy had accidentally, tripped a hidden door in the wallpaper by messing with the picture frames on the deck. It had been the secret room I was looking for, but in the entrance was a 7-foot-tall Werewolf looking mother fucker. He was growling and snarling at Lucy, spittle foaming and flying around his mouth. Bits of hospital gown still clung to the parts of him, but his arms, legs and chest where too swole for clothing. Lucy backed away slowly, shaking while she held her Taurus key at arm's length. She was hesitating for some reason.

I growled back at the thing, getting its attention away from Lucy. He paused and snapped his head around to look at me. While he started towards my direction, he clawed a desk out of the way, which splintered into several pieces and tore through the drywall. I braced myself, preparing for contact, flames licking up my arms.

"Wait Natsu!" Shouted Lucy from behind the monster. "I think he's just a kid! Don't hurt him!"

"So!?" I yelled back, a little more than annoyed.

"So! Get a closer look at what he's wearing!"

"Just looks like hospital pajamas." I shout. The werewolf tried to swipe his claws across my face, but I feigned backwards too quickly.

"Look closer! There's Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles on it!"

"The what!?" I shout back not understanding. I vaguely saw some kind of character on the fabric but I wasn't so sure they looked like…. What did she say? Turtles?

"Ugh! Just trust me!"

The Werewolf snapped his teeth and roared, frustrated with himself that he wasn't landing a single lame swipe. I channeled my inner Mufasa and schooled him back in the art of roaring. Apparently it was loud enough to stun the monster for a second. I took my opening by kicking him in the chest, causing him to stumble backwards. Before he could regain his balance I served a sweet right hook. Then I grabbed his right arm and pivoted around him, jamming my knee in his back and sending him face first into the carpet. He growled and snarled but couldn't do anything with his arms behind his back and my weight on him.

Lucy came over and knelt down beside his head, she tried to gently stroke his face but pulled her hand back abruptly when he snapped at her. "What are you crazy!?" I scolded. "You don't wanna know what happens if this thing bites you!"

She carried on like she hadn't heard me, but at least she kept her arms to her sides this time. "Hey, it's alright." She cooed. "We're not here to hurt you. Do you have a name? We can help you find your way home." She said sweetly.

"Eh, don't make promises we can't keep Lucy."

She shot me a look and then proceeded. "It's alright." She soothed. "I know your upset. But just calm down, everything will be okay. You'll see. Are you hungry?" Amazingly her words seemed to be working. He wasn't struggling against me so much.

"Keep going." I encouraged. "I think it's working."

She nodded and continued to talk to the beast, in a soothing tone. I felt the creature beneath me begin to shrink, before I knew it I was holding a sleeping, 10-11-year-old boy in ripped hospital clothes.

"Suppose he came through there?" Lucy asked, gesturing towards the secret lab entrance.

I picked the kid up off the ground and said. "Well it seems like a good place to start."

I don't think either of us where prepared for what we saw in that lab that day. The room was mostly destroyed thanks to our new furry friend here, loose papers littered the floor and all the lab tables and stools had been topsy turvy'd. The hole in the floor had been from the kid using a granite counter top to try and break out the lab, and he must have chucked it through the floor in frustration. Strong little tyke. However, it wouldn't be all the damage that would be seared into my brain for eternity. Twelve, floor to ceiling aquariums lit up with a dim blue light. Suspended inside them where presumably human fetuses, although admitted each one was engineered in some way. One had nubs on his forehead which would presumably grow into horns. One had what looked like to be fish fins. As we walked down the aisle the very last tank caught my attention. This one had scales around parts of its body, not unlike my own scales. I leaned into to get a closer look when Lucy hit my arm with the back of her hand.

"Look over there." She pointed.

The walls where lined with jail cells built into wall. Except that the inside of them looked like a children's room, with toys scattered across the floor and the character themed bedspreads. All of the cells where locked, with their occupants sleeping inside. The one on the end however, had its iron bars bent wide enough for a full grown man to slip through.

"Suppose that's where he came from?" Asked Lucy sadly. I nodded slowly. "Well we can't put him back there!" She exclaimed.

"We have to." I say simply.

"What!? Don't you see how horrible this is Natsu!?" Lucy exclaimed.

"Yes and we're going to have to pretend like we didn't see any of it." I say darkly.

"I can't believe you could be so heartless Natsu. They're children from Christ's sake!"

"You can't just kidnap children Lucy! That's not how this works. The government will find us and he'll be right back where he started. Meanwhile we'll rot in prison for the rest of our lives. This is a government owned lab…. There's no one to report this to. You'll come to find Lucy, there are no good guys and bad guys. Only the strong and the weak, and whoever wins gets to write the story. We got hired to kill rats, so we're going to put this boy back where he belongs and get back to our job."

Lucy stared at me aghast. "You're cruel." She stated bitterly.

"No. I'm just more experienced." I retort back as I shimmied through hole in the iron bars. Lucy slid in after me and just as I laid the boy onto his bed he started to wake up coughing. I took half a step backwards while Lucy came rushing to the boy's aid.

"Are you alright?" She asked kindly, petting the boys back affectionately. He'd stopped coughing but looked up at Lucy before turning is big brown eyes on me, then back to Lucy. "I'm Lucy, and this is Natsu." She says, speaking slowly and gesturing to herself, then to me.

"Don't tell him our names!" I scolded, annoyed.

"Oh Sssshh!" She threw back at me before turning sweetly to the boy and asking. "What's your name?" The boy shook his head like he didn't understand." "What. Is. Your. Name?" Asked Lucy again louder and slower this time. Again the boy shook his head. "Hmm. Maybe he doesn't speak English." She said out loud. "Natsu, go get him a glass of water." She ordered, shoeing me away. I grunted and folded my arms. "Go!" She demanded again. I sighed and rolled my eyes before I rummaged around the lab for a cup and a sink. By the time I had come back she had tucked the boy into his sheets and fluffed up the pillows behind him. The boy didn't take his large, glassy, eyes off Lucy. She smiled at him as she took the coffee mug of water I found from my hands. She offered it to the boy who downed it all in one go. "Are you hungry to?" She asked. When he didn't understand she pointed to her stomach and then her mouth. Unsure of himself the boy nodded slowly. "Go get him something to eat." She ordered me again.

"Ugh. How am I supposed to…"? I started but she interrupted.

"There's a vending machine on the first floor when we first walked in." She offered.

"Please do remember that this thing wanted to kill you a half hour ago." I added before I left, running a hand down my face.

"Yes, yes." She said hurriedly. "Go!"

When I returned carrying a Snickers bar, strawberry Pop Tarts and a Mountian Dew Lucy was still talking to the boy, asking him questions like, 'How long have you been here?' and 'Why did you try to escape?'. The boy only looked at her confused, but he lit up when he saw what I was carrying. Excitedly he grabbed the snacks from my hands and started devouring them. Lucy sat there watching the boy eat when I put a hand on her shoulder.

"It's time to go." I say.

"Just a little bit longer." She pleaded, not taking her eyes of the werewolf child that man had created.

I shook my head. "Now. Before the other children wake up." With a long sigh she agreed. We climbed back out of the bars and I headed up the metal to bend it back into place.

The rest of the rat fight took us several hours, and we worked silently side by side. Both of us digesting what had just happened, and our mutual silence said more than our words needed to. I wasn't happy about the situation either. For me it mainly raised questions about my own past. Clearly I was one of these creatures in some way. Something more than just a dragon slayer, more like half actual dragon in a way these children where half wolf, or half troll, or half demon. But how did I avoid such a fate? Was this how I was created? Destined to live in a cell for the rest of my life, tested and monitored where someone in a lab coat documented my behavior? By the time Lucy had slayed the last rodent we were both sweaty, tired and gross.

"If you think we're getting back in MY car this dirty, you're dreaming." I finally said breaking the silence.

Breathing heavily Lucy nodded. "Yeah, I think there's got to be showers up on the primate floor."

As I opened the door to the men's locker room I noticed that Lucy followed behind me, rather than head to the women's room.

"Don't think this changes anything between us." I bark over my shoulder.

"Change!? That's exactly the whole point you blithering idiot! I can't just live in limbo forever Natsu." Lucy argued, finally boiling over, her voice an octave higher than it usually was.

"Here I'll make it simple for you." I yell back my temper rising. "We're associates Lucy. You get that!? A-SSO-CI-ATES. If at any point today you've felt just an inkling of warmth from me today, just attribute that to professionalism." For god's sakes did we have to open this can of worms right now? She couldn't have waited… I don't know a week or so until I figured shit out better. As it stood I didn't really know what to tell her and I certainly wasn't ready for her ultimatum.

"And when did you decide that!? Before or after we had sex? Because from where I'm standing that made things a hell of a lot more confusing." Her brows where furrowed and her hands where at her hips in typical girl, I-going-to-argue-until-I-Get-What-I-want stance. Brat.

"I don't know, maybe the fact that the second I turned my back you were all over some other dude! It's splashed all over the god damn newspaper no less. So don't you play the victim here!"

"Well what was I supposed to do Natsu!? We've had sex twice and afterwards you act like nothing's happened. I didn't know if you were friend zoning me or what! It's been like this for months, I don't understand! What exactly did you intend? That I would just sit and wait patiently for you to make up your mind?!" She screamed, her face flushed. "What am I not enough or something? Is it really that hard to make up your mind?" She sniffed. Oh lord here comes the crocodile tears.

I pushed my filthy hand through my hair. "Ah, Lucy. It's not like that" I say, my tone much gentler. I couldn't yell at her while she was crying like that. I suppose this was Laxus's true intention for putting us together on this mission. It wasn't about the rats, it was to iron out whatever this was between us, so we all could move on.

"Then what's it like." She sniffled, her tears leaving clean trails in the dirt on her face.

I stayed silent racking my brain for something to say that wasn't about Lisanna, or the fact that I felt out of control around her, or that the more and more she gets involved in the celebrity life the more uncomfortable I was. And then there was the thing I couldn't tell her, how I had mixed feelings about her joining the guild. I had been the one to pluck this beautiful girl out of her beautiful, normal, safe, life and chucked her into this shit hole that was my own. Already her life's been endangered by joining the guild, if anything happened to her it would be my fault for allowing her to join in the first place. I could never tell her that, because if I did, I knew she'd take it the wrong way. After a long while I felt like the best answer was the simplest one that summed up everything I was feeling. "I'm scared." I admitted, staring at my feet, avoiding the look on her face.

"Scared of what Natsu!?" Lucy demanded, bound and determined to get a real response out of me.

"Scared because, I don't know, something's been going on with me lately. I can't trust my own body. The dragon inside me, he's wants to come to the surface more and more. I'm not sure what that means. What I do know is that he becomes a lot harder to control lately. I'm not sure if it something about you or something else …."

Lucy soften. "Whatever it is Natsu, we'll figure it out together." She stepped forward, placing a hand on my cheek. I had some fresh scuffs on face from the tussle earlier. I flickered my eyes up to meet hers. "Either way, we're still guild mates. Whatever it is you're facing, we'll face it together. Even if it is just as friends."

The word 'friends' made me feel sick. "Ah Lucy, I don't want to be fucking friends." I say as such a visceral reaction.

Putting on her sassy pants, right quick she says. "Well like it or not Natsu, we're in a guild together now so…"

"That's not what I meant." I quip out before she can get too carried away. She looked at me, her mouth slightly parted, waiting with bated breath for what would come next. She'd really put me between a rock and a hard place here. "What I meant was… ah shit Lucy I guess I sort of love ya. I love ya so much it scares the dickens outta me."

"Really!? You mean it!?" She says looking up at me with those big round eyes that could contain the whole universe. She couldn't help herself but grab both of my hands with hers out of excitement.

"Yeah, I suppose I sort of do." I admit, letting go of one of her hands to scratch at the back of my neck nervously.

"Oh Natsu!" She gushes. "I love you to!" She leapt into my arms, hanging around my neck. Unable to stop the smile on my face I hug her back. For a moment everything was right in my world, so good and pure, happiness invading my body like a warm beverage on a cold day. But the moment was brief. A dark cloud invaded my thoughts, blocking out the sun, on what should have been a sweet, memorable moment. Mr. Hyde wasn't going to let this momentous occasion pass without rearing his ugly head.

"If we're going to actually take a stab at this whole relationship thing then let me make one thing perfectly clear." I lowered my voice for emphasis. "You're mine and no one else's, got that?!"

"Jesus Christ Natsu, possessive much?" She teased trying to be playful to lighten up the mood. For some reason her being so cavalier about my request, no, my demand, made me instantly furious. It made me feel like she wasn't being sincere.

"Your mine, you understand!?" My hand had lifted to her throat and was now squeezing probably a little stronger that it should have. My teeth tight against my lips, my muscles where tense and for no good reason I felt like breaking something. But not Lucy, I couldn't let myself lose control…

All playfulness melted from her face. "Yes Natsu, I understand…." She croaked pulling at my hand on her neck. Shit. I was too harsh. She sighed and sank back onto her heels. I almost apologized but then what she did next the words fell out of my head.

"Then, you better fuck me like I'm yours then." She said pulling her shirt over her head exposing her pink sports bra. I had a low, involuntary growl as I reached for the back of her neck crushing her lips against mine. We made out like that for a moment until I mindlessly guided her backwards towards the bathroom sink behind her. My dick lurched so hard in my pants that I had to stop myself from reaching down to grab it. I was barely aware that Lucy was trying to take my shirt off. I had pulled out her hair tie and her messy blonde hair was slipping all over her back and my arms. My hands where kneading into her waist as our tongues collided. Without disconnecting I lifted her up into the sink behind her so I wouldn't have to bend down so much. She wrapped around my waist

"Lucy stop. We can't do this here." I said gently pulling her off me, as I reached a moment of clarity.

"Mhmm…. Why not?" She pouted as she ignored me and proceeded to lay kisses on my neck.

"Because I'm not in real good control right now." It takes all my pride to admit. The dragon seemed harder to control whenever I was feeling a strong emotion, I had figured that much out at least. In this brief moment of clarity, I should do the responsible thing and stop…. Not that I knew when a better time would be.

"So?" She whines, nibbling on my ear lobe as her hands slither down my body. I could feel my skin start heat up and I swear the blood vessel in my forehead was about to pop.

"So!?" I repeat hastily. "So the last two times we've had sex, we've been lucky. Very lucky. Remember the hot tub? I…. I don't want to hurt you Lucy I…."

"Ugh. We've done it twice already and I didn't get hurt. Have some confidence Natsu." She says, playing with the hair on the back of my head.

"No Lucy. It's not like that. It's less practice makes perfect and more Russian roulette, one of these times we're not going to be so lucky." I reply darkly.

I could tell she was starting to get hurt, shit, this girl probably ain't never been turned down a day in her life, and here I was rejecting her when she was coming on so strong. Believe me it wasn't easy, and she could tell that I was rapidly losing the ability to say no. She pulled away and pushed off the sink, walking back towards the showers.

"What are you doing?" I asked wearily.

"Well, if we're not going to have sex, I'm at least going to shower." She says pulling off her shoes and socks. "I'm covered in mutant rat guts, and dog drool. I'm not going another second without a shower. It was why we came in here. Remember?" She says all of this as she shimmies out of her pants. She knew what she was doing, as soon as her pants came off I lost the ability retain a solid thought. All I could do was stare at her completely dumbfounded. "Of course, you're welcome to join." She taunts, at this point completely naked as she disappears around the corner. Again, despite myself, despite my own horrible visions of the worst case scenario, I hastily ripped my boots off and shoved my pants down my hips to catch up with her.

Of course there was no hiding my massive erection. Like a caveman I marched right up to the shower head Lucy was already using, the warm water trickled all over her body making her skin flush and her nipples hard. Her eyes flickered over my body before acting all coy and turning around to load her hands up with soap. The vision of her backside made my dragon cry out, clawing at the surface. I wanted to fuck her with her hands against the wall and more than I wanted air in my lungs. I couldn't say anything, I couldn't move. I could feel a vein in my neck pulse and my arm muscles where straining at my sides. She turns back around rubbing the soap all over her body, at first her arms and legs, which was bad enough, then she moved to her abdomen and breasts where she was lathering herself in deliberate slow motion. My dragon was starting to seep through the cracks, my teeth and my cock where so big they hurt, and I knew my eyes where completely blood shot. I still could do nothing but stand there, using the last straw that was holding my shit together.

"Time to rinse." She announces, leaning back into the stream to let the water rinse away all the suds. She filled her hands up with soap again before she declared that it was my turn. I could do nothing but stay absolutely petrified and powerless to stop her as she started rubbing soap onto my shoulders, her soft body pressing into my hard one. Then without warning she grasped a hand around my dick and I let out an embarrassing strained sort of noise. Then she started to jerk me off.

"Lucy..." I managed, my voice low and hoarse, my tone warning. But she didn't let me finish whatever it was I was about to say. Her lips combined with mine and finally the straw broke. In one swift movement I picked her up and pinned her on the shower wall, water poured on my back as I pistoned into her again and again. I had moved so fast that I'd surprised her and she let out a gasp, but a moment later she was into it. It was everything I had remembered it to be. I was pushing all the way into her so that we could be as connected as possible, all while fighting back the dragon inside of me. The combined mental acrobatics of this task was making me head high which was only adding to the experience. I had come at her with such a raw masculinity that she was already cumming all over my rock hard member. The sensation had me growling, my words so thick I was surprised she understood me at all. "You're fucking mine Lucy."

"I'm yours." She pants, leaning her head back against the cool tile. I start to thrust into her harder than I had before, pressure starting to build up in the head of my penis. Lucy cried out as I started to spill out all over her insides. For a moment we sit like that breathing hard as I waited for the pressure to release, I had cum pretty hard so I was expecting for all the blood to rush back into my brain. But it wouldn't release, if anything it continued to build. Lucy was getting tighter and tighter. "Oh Natsu." She breaths. "That was..." She started to say, but I cut her off.

"We're not fucking finished." Is what I think I said. I watched my dick pull in and out of her, and I realized why Lucy was getting tighter, I was getting bigger. A moment ago I fit all the way inside, now I was a good fraction too big. This had never happened to me before, not with Lisanna, not with anybody. I didn't know what was going on but it felt too good to stop. "I can't stop." I announced.

"So don't." Groaned Lucy as she pressed her shoulders harder against the wall trying to give me as deep of an access as possible. I lost everything in the simple pleasure of sliding in and out of her. Before I knew it I looked down and red scales where erupting on my arms and legs, my abdomen and neck. Vaguely in my foggy brain I was aware that I should stop, Lucy was starting to look disheveled and rag dollish. But semen was being piped into dick and that's all I could bring myself to care about. I thrust into her hard one last time, clamping down on the nape of her neck, which the sensation gave me the strength to pump a couple more times before I came so hard it felt like my soul had left my body. I growled as my teeth sunk into her sweet flesh, so soft, so tender. But it was the metallic taste of blood that knocked me back to my senses. I let go of her so fast she crumpled to the shower floor, the water pouring over her wet hair and head. Blood trickled out of four puncture wounds on either side of her left trapezes.

I could do nothing but loom over her, standing there shaking, my hands balled into fists as I fought to regain total control. I had never had to fight the dragon so hard in my life as I did in that moment. I loathed myself for what I had done. The fact the I knew better made it even worse, but I couldn't even move to help her because I was mortified by what the dragon wanted to do next. Eventually Lucy stood up on her own, her right hand clasping at the two punctures on the front of her left shoulder. When she looked at me, she reached out to comfort me. "Natsu? Are you alright?" She asked carefully.

"Don't touch me!" I warned, hastily taking a step backwards, her hand pausing midair.

"Natsu! Natsu, It's alright." She said trying to calm me. "I know it wasn't you."

"It doesn't matter. I still hurt you. Fuck!" Here she was the one with four bite wounds bleeding out of her damn shoulder and she was asking me if I was okay. Damn, I didn't know how, but I needed to pull my shit together and fast.

"No, I knew it was happening. I should have stopped you but… well… for a moment there it was kind of hot." Lucy admitted as her generous attempt to make me feel better.

Not willing to let her shoulder even an ounce of the blame I said. "God damn it, this is not how I wanted things to start. Don't you see Lucy; you deserve so much better than…" _Me._ I wanted to finish.

"At least it's a start." She says smiling brightly up at me. "Come on. Let's go home." She says holding out her hand for me to take it. "I'll drive." She adds.

"Like hell you will!"


	18. Chapter 18

Thank you guys for being so patient with me. I know it's taken a long time for these chapters to get out, and I appreciate you all sticking with me. I do have a lot of good ideas about where I want to go with this story, and I am excited to write them. I hope you will enjoy them as wellJ

I am going to try to clean up the format of this story a little bit to make it easier to read. Please let me know if it doesn't translate very well.

Change of character: -

Change in time: ….

P.S.: I don't want to spoil it, but this chapter does get pretty heavy. Just FYI

Chapter 18

The Bloody Hares

"Jesus Lucy! You didn't tell me it was this bad!" Exclaimed Mirajane.

It had been three days since Natsu and I became official, and the wounds on my shoulder where becoming more than I knew how to handle. I was sitting in a bra on the poof in the middle of Mirajane's bedroom. "You promised you wouldn't tell anyone." I reminded her hastily.

"I know I know, but Lucy. You can't let him do this shit to you." Said Mirajane concerned while she inspected the two punctures on my back.

"Eh, it was sort of in the heat of the moment you know." I supplied with a little shrug, now a little self-conscious that I'd decided to show her.

"These aren't…. human…. these holes go pretty deep." She took a moment examining the ones on the front and comparing them to the ones on my back. "You two really ought to be more careful or you're going to get seriously hurt Lucy." She scolded, leaning forwards, her delicately penciled eyebrows pinched together. Worry, I didn't quite understand, swarming in her deep blue eyes. What? Was there something she wasn't telling me?

"Okay, okay. Can you help me or not?" I asked impatiently, I hadn't come to Mirajane for a lecture. Although I suppose I couldn't blame her, I'd probably be saying the same thing if the roles were reversed.

With a surrendering sigh Mirajane said "I suppose I can pull some strings to get you antibiotics. Let's hope that'll be enough."

"Oh thank you Mira! I really appreciate it. I knew I could count on you!" I gushed with relief, pulling my shirt back on.

"But Lucy." She warned. "If this happens again I'm telling Laxus." I sucked in a breath. It would be utterly mortifying if Mirajane told Laxus, I'm sure I'd rather be buried alive. I understood Mirajane was doing what she thought was best, so rather than argue I just nodded. Truthfully Natsu really hadn't scared me that much by this point, it's not like he'd done it on purpose. Sure, it hurt but, I never felt like I couldn't have stopped him if I wanted to.

I had been able to postpone my kick boxing lessons with Erza due to my finals coming up. Which was a blessing because I was sure I wouldn't be able to hide my injuries from her and I was positive she wouldn't have been as understanding as Mirajane. As for Natsu, well our new relationship fell into a natural and easy pattern. Now that we were open about our feelings we didn't need to try to find excuses to hang out with one another. In the evenings I would allow myself a break, and I would force Natsu to rewatch the series Scrubs with me. He would pretend like he thought my taste in media pointless and boring, but I caught him hiding a chuckle every now and then.

Of course the whole guild knew within hours the way gossip travels around this place. Whenever we would walk into the guild hall together, without fail Gray and Gajeel would "Woohoo!", which usually resulted in me rolling my eyes and Natsu threatening to punch one of them. Everyone seemed to be excited about the news, even Lisanna it seemed.

Lately I'd been finding myself in the guild hall more often than not. I'd chosen to study there because I felt like it might soften Laxus up to the idea of me taking time off practice for school. With my finals coming up I'd set up shop at one of the many bench styled tables. I piled library books, printer paper, notes and my laptop up to set the stage. Sure, I got heckled from various Fairy Tail members from time to time, but it was better than sitting in a stuffy library all day.

Of course there was the obvious Gray and Gajeel, who would drop by now and again to pull my pig tails so to speak. Then there would be Gildarts, who would creep over my shoulder to see what I was studying, then go on 10-minute-long tangents about how much of an expert he is on the subject. Which was almost always a resounding not. At first his lectures were charming but they rapidly became annoying. At lunch time Mirajane would come over with a sandwich and chips, and I would take a break. She would catch me up on all the gossip that's happened. Apparently Jellal and Erza went to dinner the other night, which allegedly didn't happen often. Natsu would be sweet from time to time to bring me hazelnut latte's as an excuse to talk to me, though he was always too cautious of taking up what he called 'too much of my study time'.

For the most part the guild as a whole seemed to be supportive of my goal to finish my education. It was something I thought they might disapprove of and I was delightfully surprised to find them encouraging and understanding. I say _most_ because not everyone had been so respectful of my decisions.

It was the night before my first final and I had stayed up studying. I hadn't expected to pull an all-nighter, but the material turned out to be more difficult than I anticipated. I was in the middle of solving a problem when a noise that echoed off the guild hall startled me. Juvia was walking towards me, her silk blue night gown trailing across the tile floor.

"Evening, Juvia." I say politely enough. I was willing to play nice if she was. We hadn't had any sort of direct communication since our little spat in the hospital. She was honestly the only member of Fairy Tail that I didn't care to learn more of.

"Still studying I see." She says in a cool tone as she approached me. I wondered what she had been up to at this hour, or if she was petty enough to wake up just to come and taunt me in private.

"Yeah. I am." I sighed. "I guess this problem was a little harder than I thought it'd be. Haha."

Juvia's face fell from pretense. "We have a rumor that Fairy Tail tournaments are comin' up again soon. Looks like you and I are on the first bracket. I sure do hope you haven't been slacking on your training. Lord knows I haven't, can't afford to in times like these. Everyone's being having to take more perilous job lately. We can't afford to have a freeloader around." Juvia had the gall to say, her upper lip curled into a stilted sneer.

"Don't worry Juvia." I said with a plastic smile. "I'm not intimidated by you." It was true that Juvia was a formidable opponent, she's been training for a couple of years now, her skill level similar to where I would have been had I started a guild at seventeen rather than twenty-two. "It'll be a pleasure to face you in whatever category is chosen." I finished in a tone that was so sweet it was bitchy.

"We've got a meeting tomorrow1:00. Don't be late!" She calls out dismissively as she sauntered off back to her room.

…..

I rushed in through the oversized oak doors of the guild hall. My face was flushed and my back pack was hastily strewn over one shoulder. I had just come out of a final and had to dash to make it here in time for the meeting. Natsu scooted over to allow me a seat and I slumped my backpack on the floor just as Laxus started speaking.

"As we all know the job requests coming through are becoming more serious." Started Laxus stationed at the head of the guild hall where there as a small raised plateau for public speaking. There was a murmur of agreement through the crowd. "The media isn't explaining why, but we can all feel it. Change is coming, and everybody's on edge. Historically in times like these the guilds who remained successful, guilds like Fairy Tail, who have survived the test of time, need to adapt. We cannot afford to back down in times like these, or we will absolve. We need to grow and change with the world around us. That being said, we will have to start accepting some of these jobs requests that have been coming through. And I would like to remind everyone…." Laxus turned to give Natsu a long glance before continuing. "That I have all of your best interests and skill levels in mind when I chose these assignments."

"So I think it is time to come up with some more rules, as a safety precaution moving forward." There was an immediate disrupt from the crowd and Laxus had to speak louder to be heard. I began to get nervous because I was worried he might address my continued attendance at college, resulting in my training having to take a temporary back seat. "First of all." Laxus continued. "Lisanna, Wendy and Lucy must only go on missions with A class ranking members or higher."

As of right now the A class ranking members where Gray, Gajeel and Mirajane. This didn't really bother me much, as it probably meant that I was going to get to go on missions with Natsu. Lisanna, on the other hand, had other ideas. She shot up out of her seat.

"So it's every girl in Fairy Tail with every guy is it!? God forbid anybody consider Fairy Tail progessive thinking eh, Laxus?" She seethed, folding her arms across her huffing chest. Her small mouth wriggling over her teeth.

Laxus looked exhausted as he ran a hand along his face. With a sigh he said "Do we have to do this right now Lisanna?" As if this wasn't the first time he fallen victim of Lisanna's social justice warrior rants.

"Pairing up all the guys with the girls as if we need protectin' huh?" Lisanna looked around the room for support from her feminine peers.

"Look Lisanna." Said Laxus, a little deflated. "That's not what this is about. It's about pairing Junior members with Senior members. If whatever's going on out there dies down a little, we'll remove the rule okay?"

This didn't seem to put out any fires for Lisanna however, she retorted smartly. "Oh and it just so happens that all the Junior members are the girls!?" A notion that Juvia, I noticed, seemed to agree with.

Losing his patience little Laxus's voice rose a few notches. "Might I remind you that two of our most skilled senior members are women!? I am the guild master now and these are MY rules! Anybody else have a problem with it!?" Due to Laxus having lost his temper slightly, Lisanna shrank back down. The rest of the room fell into silence until Laxus said. "Good! Now, next! All new missions are to be run by me. No more running off doing jobs on your own. Got that!?" He made a pointed look at Gray and Gajeel, both of whom looked at the floor and nodded. "Additionally I find it a bit odd that we haven't seen anything from either Saber Tooth or the Oracion Sies for a while now. Although I find their behavior suspicious at best, I will reiterate that we are not going to plan any retaliations. It seems likely that those guilds have become so preoccupied with whatever they're up to that they've decided to leave us alone for now. Frankly I prefer it this way. We've got enough on our plates as it is."

After a few more details such as continued remodeling plans and the announcement of the upcoming tournament, Laxus read out pairings for the new guild missions we were all set to go on. I was with Gray, Natsu was with Gildarts, Lisanna with Erza, Wendy and Jellal, Juvia with Mirajane and Cana with Laxus. Like before we filed in line like preschoolers, to get our envelope from Laxus. I had almost expected Natsu to blow up again about the fact that we weren't paired together, and to be honest I was a bit disappointed when we weren't. However, Natsu didn't bat an eyelash, he didn't even mention anything to Gray. It's not like I was disappointed or anything, in fact I took it as a notion that he was starting to trust that I was capable of taking care of myself.

"Hey Lucy!" Said Gray brightly as he came to join me in line. "Looks like the prettier members of the dream team are back together, eh?"

"Haha yeah!" I say in a kind of polite fake laugh.

"I hope we get to go somewhere cool! Like Las Vegas. I love Vegas!" He says with a wink as he grabbed our folder from Laxus. We opened and read the printed out page together.

"Sorry to disappoint you." I reply as I read on. "No Sin City for us. Where is this place exactly…. Wait a minute" The mission was local, 4 hours away in a town I hadn't heard of before. "Hold on Laxus." I added, skimming the rest of the page. "This mission starts on the day of my last final."

Laxus started with a tsk. "Lucy…" In a way that implied he was about to lecture me about the importance of the guild being a priority.

"It's just a couple hours." I interjected quickly, before he made up his mind. "I just have to take the test that morning and we can leave right after, please Laxus!?" I interrupt with, batting my eyelashes and feeling like I was about 7 years old asking my dad for a sleepover.

Hours Earlier

"Seeing how this went the last time we had one of these meetings, I figured I'd better run this by you first. That way if we're going to have disagreements it's a least not in front of everybody else." Laxus said as he welcomed me into his office. These trips I was taking to his office have been becoming all too frequent. I couldn't tell if he was trying to appease me, or genuinely interested in my input. I suppose that meant I should be flattered, but coming from someone who considers themselves my brother, it was the least he could do.

"I've got a job for you an' Gildarts…." He started. As he said it, he sat back down at his desk, glancing up to shoot me a pointed look. I could already see why he wanted to meet me first, yet again he would be sending Lucy and me in different directions. The last time hadn't had a swell outcome. I could also tell Laxus was goading me, I wasn't about to fall for the bait. Instead I inclined my head as a gesture for him to go on.

"Do you remember that gang from a couple months back? The ones importing drugs from South America?" He asked. I nodded. "We've been contacted by the FBI again. They've got movements on the head honcho, his name is Mr. Dillinger. Mr. John Dillinger." Laxus pulled his picture out of a yellow envelope and handed it over. I took it from him and inspected the photo. He looked like a mob boss if I ever saw one, white leathery face, mid-forties, with a mustache that was a little of kilter. He had a thin face, and an even thinner tie. Laxus continued. "Apparently he's made a trip to the states to make it to a very important annual meeting with his distributors. They need someone to tail him."

"And you figured Gildarts and I the best men for the job, eh?" I finished for him.

"You are." Said Laxus simply. Made sense, there wouldn't be room for any more S class wizards if we were supposed to tailing someone incognito, and Gildarts and I where the most durable, and wherever the mob was concerned there where sure to be plenty of firearms.

"Alright fine." I agreed, folding my arms over my chest and narrowing my eyes I ask. "And Lucy?"

Laxus heaved a sigh and said. "Look. It's not a surprise to anyone that you two have finally made it official. Honestly, I've been meaning to congratulate you, but this doesn't give you the authority over her career as a wizard. I know you feel responsible for bringing her into this mess, however it is my job to see to her assignments." Sensing my rise in tension Laxus continued hastily. "I'll humor you once more. I've got her going with Gray, working security several hours away. Job will take them less than two days. As you're well aware things rarely happen on security duty. It's a modest price tag for having the two of them stand around all day. Besides, even if anything does happen I have her stationed with Gray. He's more than capable of handling a few drunk idiots, seems to tolerate you just fine." Laxus mumbled that last bit under his breath.

"Seems acceptable." I nodded, Laxus was right about security, it was more standing around than anything else, most likely the only danger she'd encounter was boredom. "Is that all?" I asked, sidling towards the door. I had spent enough time in here as it was to continue idle chatter. I had more important things to do.

"Yes." Said Laxus returning his attention to some papers on his desk. "See you at the meeting… Oh and Natsu." He added as I paused in the door frame. "Try trusting me a little more would you? I know it might not seem like it, but I have put a lot of careful thought into these assignments"

How was I supposed to trust a brother who stole my girlfriend? Was I just supposed to forget? If I was being honest with myself, which I rarely was, it had been Laxus's betrayal that had hurt worse than the actual breakup. The relationship with Lisanna had been going stale for a while, we'd argued more than we got along. In reality we had out grown each other, naturally drifting apart. In comparison Laxus is more even tempered, more patient than I am, probably because he doesn't have a beast living under surface. My only response was to incline my head and duck out of the door. I didn't feel like opening that can of worms just then.

…..

"OUCH! Bastard! What'd you cut me for!?" Complained Gray as I barely made a paper cut across his right side with my katana. Gray had decided to spar with me today to improve his swordsmanship skills. He fancied taking on Erza for his S class trial, seems to think that'd make him more manly or something. Thing was, hell would freeze over before Gray ever beat Erza in anything that involved swords. He'd be much better off taking on Laxus. There were things that Gray was formidable with, but a sword wasn't one of them.

"You don't parry enough." I commented lazily, easily dodging his relentless bombardment. Gray's biggest mistake with the sport was thinking he was better at it than he was.

"The best defense is a good offense." Argued Gray as our blades clashed together, his ice forged demon blade to my fiery katana.

"Not in swordsmanship." I grunt as I push him back. While Gray was stronger than Erza he was not only much slower, but he left a number of carless holes in his defense. It was to only to save him from total humiliation that I didn't take advantage of all of them. "A day will come when you'll need more than just brute force to get out of the situation." I lectured. "All your strength is wasted on Erza, her form and technique are so immaculate, you cannot simply bash your way through her defenses. You'll have to outwit her." Which was why Erza was my favorite person in the whole guild to spare against, she tested my brain as well as my body.

"Says you!" Growled Gray as he feigned right, then, sharp as a tack, whirled back left and stabbed under my left arm. I smiled as I looked up, that had been his cleverest move yet. I had still managed to block him from cutting me, but only just, my own scorching blade millimeters from my skin.

Clash. "That's thick coming from you! Have I missed something? You haven't bested Erza either yet, have you?"

"I've come a far sight closer than you!" I rebuttal, taking advantage of one of his many blind spots. A razor thin trickle of blood ran down his cheek as I reminded him who he was dealing with.

Clash. Clash. CLASH. Our swords collided again and again at a pace so fast we were both panting. This continued until we were both drenched in sweat and it was time to hit the showers before dinner.

"Hey Gray listen." I say, changing the subject as I dropped into a more serious attitude. We sat down on a bench to change shoes before heading off towards the locker room. The indoor fencing room had two large mirrors in it, one consuming the western wall, and one to the north. The flooring was a deep red and the décor was an assortment of swords mounted on the walls, with historical significance to the long deceased members of Fairy Tail. The room itself serving as a kind of museum. The blades varied among styles and sizes, each one unique. Some had great intricately welded guards, some with finely woven tassels, even some with relatively impressive jewels. All of which held a spirit of grandeur and a kind of poetic sentiment, that a room full of weapons would also hold such beauty.

I caught a glimpse of the both of us in the mirror, bent over undoing our shoe laces, our swords propped up against the end of the bench. I took a moment to compare Igneel's Fury to the rest of the collection, wondering if it might make it on this wall one day. In comparison it was more utilitarian than flamboyance, it had a harsh darker gun metal appearance, and there was no garnish, no flare. Instead the blade was a master craft of weaponry, a simple marvel at the carnal terror that can be created when an expert blacksmith and dragon fire come together. Even Gray's ice forged blade had more character, the few times I'd seem him execute his demon powers while holding the thing, the deep blue blade developed an inscription carved in a glowing red. But still, even though my katana may look plain, with its cheap handle I had made out of tape rather than leather, the thing had never failed me. It never dulled, it was light, yet strong. The perfect length, not so long that it was clumsy and slow, but long enough to allow me to reach my enemies. And, although I had other powers, it was my favored tool of the trade.

"Yes Natsu." Prodded Gray, as for a moment there I had been lost in my own thoughts and had forgotten that I had been talking to him.

"The meeting tomorrow. You're going out with Lucy, just the two of you. Nothing to be too excited about… but if you run into any trouble… give her your sword." Asking for his help was admittedly hard for me, I had to wrestle each word as it came out. Ultimately I avoided the intimacy of making eye contact. Instead choosing to look at our reflections. Gray, being the better man, turned to look at me directly. "She's halfway decent with a sword." I admit, shrugging my shoulders.

"Don't worry Natsu. I'll make sure she's alright, and if it comes down to it, I'll give her my sword. Give you my word." He said earnestly, his posture that of an undeserved, unwavering loyalty. Understanding that by offering up his own sword was putting his own life at risk. I couldn't very well ask him to lie on his sword for Lucy, an honor and a duty I would place on no other shoulders than my own, which was partially why I was so passionate about being put on missions with her. And then there was Gray, who not only understands my intentions without so many words, agrees to them without question. I knew, as I had always known, that I could trust him. Gray was my best friend and he deserved that I tell him so more often, but if I said it out loud I would look like such a fucking pussy.

"Thank you." Was all I ended up saying back before we hit the showers.

"Get in loser, we're going shopping!" Gray says to me in a mock Valley girl accent as I slide into the passenger seat of the Lexus. Gray had been waiting for me on the curb while I took my last final of the semester.

"Really? You had all this time to think up a line and that's what you chose?" I laughed,

rearranging the things in my backpack.

"Got you to laugh didn't it?" He said smiling while he slipped the car in gear and sped off towards our destination. It would be a long 4 hours in his expensive, but cramped coupe. The job we had been hired for was to run security for a bar that had had some issues with gang violence lately. While the establishment usually hired full time bouncers, there was supposedly an important event this weekend that required extra security measures. I was a little apprehensive about the job and I couldn't explain why. I had certainly been on more dangerous missions before, but I had an uneasy feeling. Especially because how Laxus had acquired this job was through an agency rather than the client hiring Fairy Tail directly. Jobs through agencies tend to be only moderately magnanimous, as they're famous for skimming some off the top, however it does usually means a consistent work schedule.

Gray, who was forever in a bubbly mood, I could tell he was starting to become annoyed with how many times I'd requested we stop for a bathroom break. "Too much coffee." I say after the third time I'd made him pull over for a gas station.

"Ugh. We've got to hurry up Lucy! We're already late!" Gray whined. "And worry about fixing your makeup later!"

I had been getting ready for the job on the road, in an attempt to look professional instead of a sleep deprived, brain fried, and over caffeinated. I had on a pair of tight black pants, with a matching black blouse. Gray was similarly wearing all black, but as we had driven he had slowly unbuttoned the first three buttons of his dress shirt, as though the feeling of the fabric against his skin was offensive. Gravel crunch beneath the tires as we parked the car and stepped out onto the establishment. It was a casual road-side bar and restaurant, your average burger and fries' kind of place. Although the front section of the building was recently renovated it was attached to a larger, concrete warehouse, the surface of which was rough and weathered. The owner met us out front, looking more than a little disheveled. He had on a messy apron over the top of his dress cloths, as though he was short-handed in the kitchen and had to step in as a replacement.

"You're late!" He proclaimed breathlessly, not bothering to shake our hands, or offer himself an introduction.

"Yeah… sorry 'bout that. 'Your Highness' over here has a weak bladder. I'm Gray and this is Lucy" Said Gray, chucking a thumb in my direction. I had to restrain myself from sticking my tongue out at him childishly.

"Nate Miller." The bar owner said matter of fatly. "It's about to start. Follow me. They'll be arriving any minute."

Gray and I nodded and he lead us through the kitchen to unremarkable back door. From inside the kitchen it looked like the room might belong to a closet, or a dingy rear office. This must be where the old building met the new. Beyond that door was an elaborate, secret, banquet hall, with carpeting that reminded mined me of an old movie theatre, and high ceilings that held an ugly chandelier that look liked it was from the 70's. The room was set up with rows of white table clothed round tables, the cutlery already set, tea lights suspended in vases of water for center pieces. At the front of the room there was a banquet table, where obviously the honored guest of this meeting was to be seated.

"You guys are supposed to prevent anyone that's attending this meeting to interfere with the customers out front, and vice versa. You can stand here at the entrance or in the kitchen, but stay outta my freakin' restaurant. Got it?" Said Mr. Miller as one of the kitchen attendants brought him a pot of sauce to sample. The restaurant owner stuck a pinky in it, sucking off the sample with a wet noise from his lips. "More salt, and I thought I told you fresh parsley!"

"But sir." The attendant meeped. "We didn't have any, and…."

"Did your grandmother ever use dried up leaves boy!?" They both rounded the corner back into the kitchen, the owner barking more orders to everyone. The door slammed shut behind them leaving Gray and myself alone in the banquet hall.

Lucy and I had barely made it on time. Moments after the door closed behind us it flew open again. In filed a group of three men, one seeming to be senior to the other two, as he barked at one of them to run off and fetch him a drink. The main one was of average height in a high street suit, with alligator skin shoes and a thin gold chain. He wasn't that old, yet his hair was starting to thin and he was desperately trying to hide it by combing his hair forwards. The second was just a kid, maybe nineteen or so, his suit looked too big for him, borrowed maybe. The third just seemed like a red headed, more timid, version of the second. The thing that alerted me to all of them however, was that they all had guns, either holstered under their blazers or tucked into their pants. This would be no ordinary security mission.

The one who seemed to be in charge slid an uninterested eye over me and Lucy, but then seemed to double back to Lucy. He gave her a none too subtle once over, and I could practically see the hairs on the back of her neck go up. I could understand why Natsu sometimes got annoyed with her for her looks, though it wasn't her fault. It was a burden every girl with movie star quality features had to endure, to be constantly ogled at. Today she wasn't really even trying, but I suppose the fact that at the last minute she had decided to put on lipstick in the cars passenger window didn't help. And that she was wearing all black made the peachy color on her lips pop.

"Agency hire you sweetheart?" He asked, having the audacity to approach her. As he did so the third lackie ran back from the kitchen with a tray of drinks. The man plucked one off the tray and took a sip while he waited for a response. I tensed, watching the situation very carefully. I wasn't sure if Lucy had picked up on the fact that these guys where packing heat, and we very well could have just walked into a very bad situation. I couldn't tell her outload, of course, in front of all of them, our best chance now as to try to finish the job without any hiccups and be on our way.

"Uh, yeah." She says in a way that was both a little awkward and a little cute.

"Hmm." He says as more, of what was sure to be more gang members, filed into the room and seated themselves. "At least if the agencies were going to hire some second rate wizards, they sent one that's decent to look at." He spat.

Lucy prickled and I prayed she wasn't about to say something dumb. I had half a mind to grab her now and make a run for it. My bad feeling intensifying as I was realizing that everyone who walked through the door, had a gun on them. Then I remembered what Laxus had said at the meeting, about Fairy Tail having to adapt. I wondered if this is what he meant.

"I'm not second class anything." She snubbed, her chin in the air and a dazzling grin spread across her face. "I'm a professional, and a pretty good one. I'm here to do the job I was hired for. Got a problem with that? Too bad." There was a twinkle in her eye, daring asshole to continue this conversation. I felt the tips of my fingers go numb, the way they do before I create ice with them, the magic flowing through my veins, ready to respond.

"You may be right about that. You're a first class piece ass that's for sure." The gang member with the comb over kept at it. His teenaged lackeys behind him covering their mouths in a failed attempt to hide their fits of laughter. He reached out an arm for her, but I stepped forwards. My reflexes where faster than his, I put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him from touching her. Frost spider-webbed across his shoulder of his suit where I had touched him.

"Why don't you find your seat sir." I deferred, my grip on his shoulder firmer than necessary. He peel off my hand and dusted the frost from his suit. I waited with baited breath for what his reaction would be. By this point I was sure that firearms would be pulled out at some point during this mission, and I was going to do my best to make sure that they weren't pointed at us. I could practically feel Lucy seething beside me, thankfully, she remained silent. Some of the gang members had begun to find their seats, some still mingling about in various conversations filled with masculine laughter and the sound of ice tinkling in crystal tumblers. They all dressed like well-to-do mobsters, with designer shoes and cloths, diamond earrings and rings. Most had tattoos and many had their head shaved. All of them concealed carried, a detail that might be overlooked unless you knew what to look for. I wondered what sort of deal they had drug up with the restaurant owner.

The man took a long last glance at Lucy before saying, in a smile that gave me chills. "A woman like you in a room full of men who think of themselves as god, someone was bound to notice. I just wanted to be the first…. come on boys, boss will be here soon." Fortunately, they retreated to a table nearby. The seats where nearly full now, a room of about thirty men. Doing the mental math there could be upwards of 500-600 bullets in this room. Even with all our magic, there was no way we could dodge them all, and with only one exit we'd be sitting ducks.

God didn't make all men equal, Richard Gatling did. In a world full of magic, there are few more effective ways to kill a man than a good, old fashioned bullet. It was sort of a rule among guilds to not carry any, it was considered immoral and unsportsmanlike. Not even dark guilds often carried them. Although in Fairy Tail we're all trained to used them because, the most dangerous threat to all of us is still a bullet to the head.

"You've gotta keep your cool Lucy. That was a close one." I lean over to whispered to her.

"Asshole." She cursed under her breath, staring holes into the back of that man's head.

"Yeah well. I don't like this. I don't like it at all. Let's is to try to keep a low profile and watch for a time to make our exit. Alright?"

"What!? Why!?" She hissed in a sharp whisper, a confused expression on her face.

"Take a good, long look around." I said, tilting my head towards the room full of nefarious characters. "They're not here to discuss their quarterly investments."

Lucy opened her mouth to reply, just then the door burst open and the room fell silent. Three men walked in, the first two clearly body guards sporting semi-automatic rifles as they escorted a middle-aged man with a mustache, in a three-piece suit and a silver pocket watch, to the front of the room. You could hear a pin drop as the legs of his chair pulled across the carpet. The two men with assault rifles didn't sit down, instead they backed up against the wall, stationed on either side of him. Lucy and I were pinned against the opposite wall on either side of the doorway, doing our best to keep an uninterested expression while pretending to be invisible. Lucy shifted nervously, crossing her arms behind her back. The mob leader reached into his suit pocket and pulled out a cigar, which he cut, letting the discarded shreds of tobacco carelessly litter the table cloth. He then plopped the cigar in his mouth, and one of his subordinates hurriedly lit a match for him.

The scent of cigar smoke filled the muted hall. Men shifted anxiously in their seats. Eventually he spoke. He had an accent that was hard to locate as it sounded equal parts New Yorker and Spanish, yet it was low and powerful like a politician in an old-timey documentary.

"I want to know." He said at last, taking a long whiff of his cigar in the middle of his sentence. "Who our fucking mole is." He finished calmly, but his next few words where anything but calm. "I. WANT. TO. KNOW. WHO. THE FUCKING MOLE IS!?" He demanded, slamming his fists on the table, making the cutlery jump. The room at large seemed to flinch. "It's been a month since the incident, and not one of you have been competent enough to flush out which one of us tipped of the fucking FBI. INFANTS! THE LOT OF YOU! A bunch of tit sucking, useless, swine! Twelve MILLION dollars' worth of cocaine…. CONFISCATED! AND NONE OF YOU CAN TELL ME WHICH MOTHER FUCKER IS RESPONSIBLE!" Shouted the man, spit flying from his mouth, the veins on his temple and neck pulsing dangerously, his face a tomato red.

"Mr. Dillinger." Said the man who had been antagonizing Lucy, with cool arrogance. Bravely, he stood up and straightened his tie. "I believe I have some new information for you, sir."

"A month! Took you a month to get this information! You incompetent, brainless stem of a man…. Tell me… Tell us what you've heard!" Bereted Mr. Dillinger, steam still practically rolling out of his ears. "Go on Lansky, but this better be worth my god damn time."

"Waited for the right circumstances sir." Said the man called Lansky simply, who was impressively unruffled by his boss's blatant outrage. It was at this moment that I couldn't find the two teenagers that Lansky brought with him. My eyes darted around the room, but I didn't see them, nor could I recall them leaving, as they would have had to walk right past Lucy and myself.

"And you've found this person?" Questioned Mr. Dillinger as he sank back into his seat, continuing to puff on his cigar. His body guards behind him remained still as a statue. Ghosts, Lucy and I would have to behave transparent to be able to escape this situation unfazed. I worked on keeping my breathing even, and my body language relaxed. I risked a glance over at Lucy, who fists where curled into sweaty palms, her eye's darting around nervously. I could tell she was trying to stifle the noise of her breathing as her chest rose and fell rapidly. Fuck. She couldn't have been more obvious. She looked at me as I looked at her, her eyes pleading, as if she was trying to tell me something.

"I have." Smiled Lansky, a shit eating grin tugged at the corner of his lips. Without breaking eye contact with Mr. Dillinger, he shouts back to the kitchen. "Bring 'em in boys!" The door between us was kicked open. In came the two teenaged boys who had been with Lansky, one with black hair grabbing on to the arm of the restaurant owner, who was bound, gagged, and blindfolded. He wasn't struggling too much because the second teenager, the nervous ginger one, had the barrel of his gun pressed to his head. "Apologies for the delay in our results, it seems however, that these little meetings might not have been as discrete as we might have liked!"

Mr. Dillinger got up from his seat then and rounded the table. His body guards made to follow him, but he put up a hand to stop them. The teenagers presented the restaurant owner, shoving him down onto his knees. From thirty feet away I could tell that he was shaking, and that the back of his dress shirt was greasy with sweat. Mr. Dillinger knelt down to peel off the restaurant owners blind fold. Chuckling manically, he said "Thought squealing to the FBI might free you from debt eh, Mr. Miller? Thought you'd get me out of the way, eh? Might I remind you who loaned you the money for this …... fine …. Establishment. It'd be in foreclosure by now if it wasn't for me!"

Mr. Miller remained silent, though the whole room could hear him breathing heavily through his nostrils as his mouth had been duct taped shut. "You know what we do to rats in the Bloody Hare's Mr. Miller?" Mr. Dillinger had lowered to an unnaturally calm voice, the volume barely more than a whisper. As if they had been given some kind of invisible que, with well-oiled military precision, the body guards broke their stance to march into the center of the room in rehearsed unison. They lowered their rifles, muzzles pointed at Mr. Millers head. I could hear Lucy gasp and then cup a hand over her mouth to silence it. I shot her a sideways look that meant _"for once shut the fuck up."_ We couldn't very well just run out of the room, they'd all be after us. I was certain we'd seen enough at this point that we wouldn't be permitted to just leave, but still I was trying to conceal my powers until the last possible second. Doing anything premature would be like showing my hand at a black jack table.

The restaurant owner was now trying to say something through the tape. "What was that Miller? Have something to say for yourself!?" Growled Mr. Dillinger, motioning for Lansky to remove the duct tape. Lansky did so in one, cruel, swift movement. Immediately Mr. Miller started vomiting words, stuttering and tripping over them in haste to get them all out.

"I got something you want m-m-more than m-m-me, m-m-Mr. Dillinger."

"Curious Miller, now that I've got you cornered. What do you think I'd want to dispose of more than a filthy rat like yourself?" Mr. Dillinger pulled the cigar out of his mouth to lean down and blow smoke in Mr. Millers face.

I turned, Lucy was tugging on my sleeve, her eyes wide, motioning for us to leave. Again she was trying to tell me something, like she had put two and two together and I hadn't caught on. I yanked my arm away, motioning for her to be quiet. Looking back, I should've listen to her, we should have tried to get as much distance as possible while they were all distracted.

"What about the guild that did it? The guild that killed your son-in-law?" Finished Miller, no longer stuttering. He knew that what he had said had just bought himself valuable time. He broke into a smile as he said. "And two of its members are in this room right now."

I froze as everyone turned in unison, while all thirty some guns where pointed at me and Lucy. Both Lucy and I shot our hands in air, surrendering, my mind racing a million miles a minuet trying to find us a way out of this mess. I could freeze the whole room, grab Lucy and run, but with the heating units indoors it would buy us maybe a minute or two. A move I could only risk once. One of the body guards grabbed me roughly by the arm, Lansky had grabbed Lucy, forcing us forwards to the front of the room. They pushed us onto our knees next to Mr. Miller.

"You two where hired by the agency correct?" Asked Mr. Dillinger, taking another long drag from his lit cigar. Both Lucy and I remained silent, neither of us willing to reveal anything about Fairy Tail. Getting frustrated, he asked again. "Let's try this again… you were hired by an agency correct?!" The guard holding me pressed the muzzle of his gun hard into my back. I was pretty certain that if I ducked out of the way, and kicked the guard in the legs hard enough he'd loosen his grip on his rifle enough for me to claim it. The risk was that it would momentarily leave Lucy vulnerable.

"Yes. We were hired by Wizards Anonymous." I say. I decided that to go along would buy me more time to think.

"Was this whole incident planned? Or was it pure coincidence that lead you to your deaths this evening?" Asked Mr. Dillinger. He pulled his pocket watch out to glance at it before stuffing it back into his pocket. The lid of the watch had a rabbit embroidered on it. I looked over at Lucy before I answered. She had struggled against Lansky, causing her hair to be all disheveled, half of it loose and half still in the bun. Lansky ran a hand down the length of Lucy's jawline, stopping at her chin in order to force it upwards to look at him. I struggled a little against the body guards grip, testing his strength.

I pretended to lose, I answered. "Coincidence. At least on our end." It had been no coincidence, Mr. Miller had to have known exactly who he was hiring, he had banked his life on it. Lansky was now running his fingers along Lucy's hair, his digit's centimeters away from her breast. Lucy sucked in a breath to scream, fighting against her assailant's grip. This wasn't Lansky's first time apprehending a hostage, he clapped a hand over her mouth to silence her. We were running out of time.

"Tell me…." Mr. Dillinger said dangerously, leaning in so close our noses almost touched. "What guild are you two from…. Careful now. Answer correctly and I might just leave one of you alive."

I smiled darkly. "Lean in any closer and I might've thought you wanted a kiss." Despite themselves several of the gang members snorted with laughter. I took the moment of distraction to break out of the bodyguard's grip by backwards head butting him while simultaneously stepping on his foot. He tried to take a step back and tripped, I broke my arms free and punched with my right fist, while yanking his rifle away with my left hand. By the time I turned around I dropped the weapon, letting it land in a heavy dull _thunk_ on the carpet. Lansky had pulled out his gun from under his suit jacket and pressed firmly into Lucy's temple, his other hand firmly on her mouth. She had a fierce, fiery look on her face that promised retribution.

"Lemme ask you again." Mr. Dillinger said again, tearing my focus back to him, his cigar he had been chewing on dribbling at the tip of his lips, the end moist with saliva. Some of his men closing in on me and Lucy, their bodies casting shadows over us in the dim light of the banquet hall. Goose pimples spread over my skin as I heard a metallic click. A shiver sprang up through my spine.

"If I tell you…. You let her go." I growled, frost spreading up my fingertips and hands. The members of the mob seemed to think better than to try to grab me again. Lucy was struggling against Lansky wildly, making her stance known. In trying to contain her Lanksy had loosened his grip on her mouth just enough for her to sink her teeth into his hand as hard as she could.

"Ouch! You bitch!" He cried, temporarily letting go.

"Don't! Don't tell 'em Gray!" Was all she managed before Lanksy had recovered her again, this time he had forced her to face plant onto the table. Standing behind her, his hip pressed against her ass in a way that gave me a fowl taste in my mouth. Lanksy held her hands behind her back with one arm while holding his gun to the back of her head with the other.

"If you promise to let her go…. I'll tell you." A layer of black magic began to incorporate with the ice on my arm.

"Fine." Dillinger agreed. "We won't kill her. Now tell me before I order them to kill you both. And believe you me… they'll take their time with her." He said, pointing his head at Lansky.

"Fairy Tail." I say quietly, with nothing but pure hatred and loathing in my eyes. I could feel the demonic tattoos burn into my skin as I allowed the dark spirits into my body, to become their vessel. A blueish black haze starts to blur over my vision. My subtle transformation must have startled Mr. Dillinger because he feebly pulled out his own hand gun and had it pointed at me.

"Louder!" He commanded. "I couldn't hear you…"

I shot out my right hand as if I was grasping for something that wasn't there. But there was something there. My fingers clasped around my sword. The sword that would be my only inheritance from my bastard of a father, who had abandoned me and my mother to join a dark guild when I was a kid. When I summoned this sword while my demon slayer powers where activated, it glowed a dark, ominous blue. Red inscriptions, not unlike my tattoos, marred its surface, rendering its appearance as other worldly. I fixed my gaze onto Mr. Dillinger, my whole eyeball an inky-black, a hint that I was summoning powers from the underworld. Powers that were not given freely and without a valuable penance. My sudden change in appearance must have scared him because he pulled the trigger.

"GRAY!" She screamed. Lucy had mule kicked Lansky in the testicles which gave her enough time to send a rough elbow into his sinuses. He sent off a shot that missed and hit scaffolding in the ceiling, bits of it raining down on us. Faster than I thought her capable of, Lucy upholstered her whip and lassoed Dillinger's wrist pulling is arm in such a way that caused him aim to miss his target.

I sent rifts of power and ice in star pattern, careful not to freeze the whole room because that would've included Lucy. Few enemies succumbed to my ice but it was enough distraction to regroup. Lucy took this time to summon Virgo, who wasted no time in issuing combat. She sank her mace into the body of the body guard who had been restraining me. The man howled his pain, his partner seeing this aimed his rifle at Virgo and started emptying his clip. From then on things went to hell in a hand basket.

The bullets tore holes through Virgo, leaving ethereal gold dust that lingered in the air. She continued to fight as more bullets tore through her, the celestial dust pulling her back into her own realm. The whole room broke out in a symphony of gunfire. Having to act quickly I erected a crude ice blockade to temporarily shield myself and Lucy.

"Lucy! Catch!" I say, remembering what Natsu had said and tossing her my sword. She looked a little shocked but caught it.

"Gray!" She said, panicked. "What are we going to do!?" The ice barrier I had made was quickly being stripped away with all the gunfire. We could hear Mr. Dillinger and the other members of the Bloody Hare's shouting orders and one another.

"We're going to have to make a run for it." I said. She nodded, and pulled out one of her keys in her hand. "Follow my lead!" I raised my hands upturned and closed my eyes, allowing just enough darkness to seep through my body and overpower the lighting in the banquet hall. The light bulbs resisted a little, it wasn't a power I exercised often so I wasn't all that good at it. With a final flicker the lights went out, enveloping the room in velvety darkness. The gunfire stopped, as I had predicted it would, in the dark they were just as likely to shoot each other as well as us.

"Gray… I can't see anything." Whispered Lucy. Ordinarily my eyesight is just like anybody else's, but when I was possessed by the powers of the underworld and my eyes go black, I can see better in the dark than I can in the light. I grab her hand and we make a mad dash for the door, Lucy trailing behind me in blind faith. I manage to navigate through the room without bumping into anybody or anything that would give away our location. I freeze the two dudes standing guard of the door and we burst through into the florescent overhead lighting of the kitchen.

The kitchen help had heard all the gunfire and had taken cover. Lucy and I dashed through the kitchen and into the main restaurant, a stampede of footsteps not far behind us. The guests of the restaurant screamed and scrambled at the sight of us, crowding the exits and slowing our progress. "Shit!" I say out loud.

"God damn it!" Curses Lucy in agreement. We were trapped until the restaurant guests cleared out. We turned to face the mob chasing us, standing back to back. Lucy raided my sword with two hands, and I raised my fists. Lucy had summoned Taurus, with a loud bovine like moan, he charged head long into a barrage of bullets. His double sided axe was so big that there was a series of metallic clinking noises as many of them ricocheted off of it. With Taurus acting as Lucy's shield, I kicked over restaurant tables and reinforced them with ice to make obstacles for our enemies. For moments Lucy and I fought like this, she was protecting my back as I was protecting hers. I tried to fit the puzzle pieces together, to try and figure out what we had missed, why this was happening. I knew that Lucy knew, but I didn't very well have any time to ask her.

The exits cleared, and in a wordless understanding Lucy took the opportunity to bolt of the door. I was two steps behind her when I noticed that for a split second the air in front of her looked hazy. It happened too fast for me to even warn her. We'd over looked and underestimated them this whole time. Lansky materialized out of thin air right in the doorway. He was a wizard, a wizard with transportation magic. A serious, no bullshit, look on his face as he blocked her escape.

Again her reaction time surprised me as she moved to stab him. The sword sliced through vacant air, however, Lansky dematerialized and then rematerialized behind her. I could do nothing to help her as I was holding off the rest of the gang, throwing up barriers as fast as they were coming down. Taurus had been helpful, but his body was becoming Swiss cheese and I could tell that he was fighting hard to stay in our world as tendrils of celestial dust where dragging him back to his own. I wasn't sure how much longer I was going to be able to hold them off, I would have to do something drastic soon and I would just have to trust that Lucy would be able to handle herself.

Fortunately, being indoors gave us a tunnel effect, there was a small comfort in that as it limiting how many guns could be pointed as us at one time. There were too many windows to try the lights out trick again, and it doesn't work so well in the daylight anyways. They were closing in on us, every moment became a small eternity as I filed through our options in my brain. I was seconds away from freezing the whole kit and caboodle, grabbing Lucy's body and making run for it. Casting a particularly large wall to afford a glance at Lucy's situation again.

Natsu had been right about her being alright with a sword. Her brows where furrowed and her lips where pursed together in concentration. She would pirouette, feign left and jab, in what I recognized as one of Erza's exercises. She was executing her training routines flawlessly, unfortunately it wouldn't be enough against another wizard. He kept disappearing and reappearing in short distances but in quick succession all around her. She had been able it seemed, to knock his gun out of his grasp as it had scattered across the floor and was now hiding under a booth. He had resorted to trying to kick her with shoe knives that had been concealed in his alligator skin boots. She went for an over handed swing.

I had missed exactly what had happened because I was too busy hoarding off a literal mob, but I snapped my head back to her position as I heard my sword clink to the floor. Lansky had a hand to Lucy's throat, dangling her inches off the ground. Her feet kicked out at him wilding and her hands flew to his wrists. She tried to scream but all that came out was a strangled gurgling sound.

I paused and froze the whole front line. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, my arms falling to my sides. I needed to concentrate, to try and gather up as much magical power as I would need for what I was about to do. I could feel the power flow through my veins, from the tips of my toes to the top of my head, so charged up that stray static electricity was snapping around me. I opened my eyes slowly, and at first what I saw I did not comprehend.

Being gifted as I am with extreme intelligence, it only took a moment before I understood. Lanksy was crumpled on the floor after having crashed into the bar counter. He was groaning as he pushed a stool off of himself. Someone had thrown him there. I look over to find Lucy in the arms of a hooded man. A few pink wisps of hair were all I needed to understand.

Their mission was to follow someone, that someone must have been Mr. Dillinger, the mob boss they had confiscated the cocaine from months ago. Mr. Miller must have alerted the FBI a second time, informing them of this meeting. Then I realize that Mr. Miller must have greased the hands of some employee at Wizards Anonymous to make sure that someone from Fairy Tail would be here tonight, as a contingency plan for himself in case he was found out. What Miller didn't realize was that the FBI would turn back around to hire Fairy Tail to tail Mr. Dillinger. Never underestimate Fairy Tail.

Gildarts caught up, panting heavily and wearing a backwards hat and sunglasses. "What are you two doing here!?" He asked.

He sent a small blast of air that knocked over the two men in the front that had become thawed, into the men behind them. "I should be asking you the same question!" I countered casting up yet another barrier. The barrage of bullets never ceased, and at this point there had been many near misses. "By the way! You look utterly ridiculous! Was that supposed to be a disguise!?" I couldn't help myself, I took one look at him and busted out laughing.

"What are you laughing at punk!... Ugh! He's getting away!" Shouted Gildarts pointed to Dillinger, who was clambering over his comrades to make it from the front lines back into the kitchen. There was a second exit to the outside through the kitchen, and I knew for a fact that he was going to try to escape through it.

"Gildarts!" Shouted Natsu over all the shots. "We've gotta get them outside!" For a split second Gildarts looked conflicted, like he was torn between listening to Natsu and going after the guy. Now that he knew our names it was imperative that we catch him.

"Don't worry Gildarts!" I say. "I'll go after him!"

"Lucy! Go hide behind the bar!" I ordered as I stand in front of her, my one arm outstretched to hold her behind me as the other was continually casting fire shields to protect us from the bullets. She scoffed in frustration.

"I will not go cower behind the bar Natsu!" She bites out. That's that stubborn streak of hers again. "I'm going with you!"

"Now!" I roar back at her. "We don't have time for this!" My fire shield was so hot it was causing the bullets to melt instantly, causing a puddle of molten alloy at my feet. Still Lucy hadn't moved, she rooted herself to the spot, digging her heels in. Gray had just frozen half the room in order to give chase to Dillinger. With all that ice, and as quickly as my fire was turning it to steam, we had to take this showdown outside or the whole thing would blow.

"NO!" She shouts back mulishly. "I will not just leave you and Gildarts to the these…!"

"…GOD DAMN IT LUCY! AS YOUR SUPERIOR OFFICER, RETREAT THE BAR ALREADY! THAT'S AN ORDER!" I growled at her, flames seeping out of the corners of my mouth in anger. She flinched as I had never yelled at her quite like that before. Blessedly she retreated wordlessly, allowing me to cover her until she ducked behind the counter. Doubtless she was pouting behind there, but I would have to deal with that later. Right now I had to clean up this fucking mess, god damn it Gray was a fucking idiot! What was he thinking!

Luckily Gildarts had understood my meaning without me having to spell it out for him. An instinct that came to him after having worked so closely together after all these years. Gildarts managed to get a hold of the guy who had been choking Lucy earlier, he had assumed correctly that he was of some kind of rank within the Bloody Hare's. He had his palm placed flat up against his head, which in Gildarts hands was the equivalence of holding a sawed off shot gun to his temple, and he was dragging him backwards out into the parking lot. Like sheep they all followed, they had stopped shooting up everything but they hadn't laid down their weapons.

Suddenly, as Gildarts had made it halfway across the parking lot, the man he had been dragging disappeared. We both realized too late that he had been a wizard. Before I could do anything about it the man reappeared behind Gildarts, getting him through his ribs with shoe knife. Gildarts growled in pain and swung a powerful arm behind him, but no one was there. The man with the alligator boots startled Gildarts again by sifting in front of him, he had tried for an underhanded shoe knife to the throat. Gildarts was a fraction of a second too fast for him as he caught his ankle in his hand, and with a kind physical strength known only to Gildarts, he twisted his leg until he fell unceremoniously into the gravel. Not wanting to allow him time to disappear again Gildarts sent out a blast from his hand causing an explosion that totaled a few cars and tossed so much dirt into the air it was raining on us in painful clumps of rocks and debris. When the dust began to settle Gildarts looked around wildly. In his best efforts, he had been too slow, the man had disappeared anyways. Gildarts was now whipping around wildly, unsure he'd turn up next.

While all this was going on I was casting up fire shields, with two hands I could keep this up all day long. My plan was to just wait until they were out of ammo, mainly because the look on their faces when they realize they're screwed would be priceless. I had made an error; I should've just simplified things by burning them all to smithereens. I had allowed my humanity to take over, to show mercy. A luxury I would soon learn I could no longer afford.

The man Gildarts had been fighting, the same one that had tried to strangle Lucy, reappeared where Gildarts wasn't suspecting. This time he had a kitchen knife and he stuck it through Gildarts's abdomen. "NOOO!" I cried. In my distraction I had let one of my fire shields to go out, as I reached hopelessly in Gildarts direction. The man who had been like a father figure to me, a kind of mentor, the man who seemed to understand me when no one else did. I had never seen him injured before, in all my life at Fairy Tail, I had never seen him more hurt than your typical scratches and bruises. Sure, he'd needed stitches a few times, but that was considered ordinary in this line of work.

He sank to his knees, his hands covering his abdomen. Trying, unsuccessfully to hold off the blood that was already seeping through his sweatshirt. I was done playing Mr. Nice Guy. I inhaled deeply and blew out a blistering heat. Some of the gunfire ceased as half the men dropped to the floor, rolling in agony as my fire melted their flesh off their bones. Thinking this had bought me some time I spun to go help Gildarts, whose assailant was nowhere to be seen. I had miscalculated. I grunted as a wrenching pain suddenly seared the nerves in my arm. I'd been shot by one of the men I had missed with my fire breath.

Before I could even register what was happening I got shot again, this time in the hip. "Fuck!" I cursed. Sinking to one knee. Worried and angry I cast out a series out half crescent blades of fire. That had taken care of a few more of them, actually killing two of them as it sliced one in half and the other into thirds.

"Gildarts!" I cried, finding the strength to stand back up and drag my useless leg over to him. He was still on his knees, staring aghast the hole in his stomach.

"Natsu…" He wheezed, a bloody foam at the corner of his lips.

"You're alright." I tried to assure him. "You're going to be alright." I lied. I wasn't so sure Gildarts would make it through these injuries. If I were to wager in that moment, I would've wagered that he wouldn't make it. One could survive a stab through the ribs and one in the abdomen, but those injured combined I wasn't so sure. There was a nagging feeling, a certain numbness married to a thought. A thought that I had had for quite some time now, the knowledge that this was how I had imagined my own death. A death too soon, while fighting an enemy I had underestimated. But not Gildarts. He couldn't die like this, I refused to accept a world that Gildarts wasn't in. He was supposed to be my rock, a pillar, a voice of reason and understanding I could always turn to when my own body frightened me. The concept impossible to bare.

"Where are you, you Bastard!" I shouted at the empty air as I stood before Gildarts, protecting him from the unseen enemy. Most of the non-magical gang members where either incapacitated or dead, few of them where stirring to their feet. In a blind rage I sent out more blades of fire.

"Natsu! Natsu! Behind you!" Shouted Gildarts in an effort that cost him the last of his reserves, red foam leaking from the corners of his mouth. I whipped around in time to see the man materialize in front of me. This time he had a gun. And this time he didn't hesitate to pull the trigger.

I crouched behind the bar with nothing but my own breath to keep me company. It was ragged, and try as I might I couldn't steady it. Everybody had left me now. I could hear gunfire coming from outside, an explosion rocked the windows and doors in their frames. The sound of men burning to their supposed deaths ringing horribly in my ears. At times like these I wondered who the real enemy was, us…. Or them? It was an awful cruel death, and again I considered the souls that must lay weight on Natsu's conscious…. That laid weight on mine. Maybe Natsu was right. Maybe it was better that I not see this. As horrible as it sounded, I worried about them, but I had to trust. Trust that they knew what they were doing.

I crawled towards the end of the bar to peak around the corner. The restaurant was a war zone, with most of the tables over turned, broken plates and glasses litter the floor, spilled food and drink had been trampled on making a slimy surface that reminded me of a fraternity house on Sunday morning. There where bodies to, civilians and gang members alike. I recognized the nervous, ginger teenager among them, he was in pieces, his guts strewn across the floor. This was unmistakably Gildarts handiwork. From that moment on I understood why he always worked alone. Bile rose in my throat from the sheer violence of it. The vision of his young body, his guts and shapeless limps, mixed with the stench of burning flesh wafting in from outside. I suddenly felt very nocuous. Unable to control it, I hurled all over the floor. I stayed like that, on my hands and knees for minuets, my palms sweaty, my stomach tied up in knots.

I remembered that Natsu and Gildarts were out there, they were still fighting. I clung to that thought like a life raft. I couldn't leave them to get injured, or even die while I stayed cowering in here. I didn't care what Natsu had said, or how mad he would be. They needed me out there, even though I couldn't see what was happening I could hear it, could hear how desperately they called for each other.

Slowly I stood up and started sorting through the rubble, trying to find Grays sword that I had dropped in the commotion earlier. Unable to find it I had assumed, without anyone to hold onto it, it had dissipated backed to whatever realm Gray summoned it from. With a gasp I jerked up. There was a series of gunshots and then…. Silence. I couldn't tell if it was a good silence or a bad one. I checked my holster, with Taurus and Virgo used up I didn't have anyone left that would be useful. Aquarius can only be summoned in a body of water; god why couldn't the restaurant be by a lake! And Horologium, well I was trying to reason a way, if even remotely, that he might be useful. Perhaps to shield me as I go to them.

The sound of boots crushing on glass, followed by a sinister laugh startled me. Slowly I turned to face it, with cold dread cloaking over my body. I knew then that it had been a bad silence, a very bad silence. Natsu would have never let this man come after me unless he was seriously hurt…. Or worse.

"Ha. Ha. Ha. Looks like it's just us and you now blondie." Said Mr. Lansky. The look on his faced inspired a different kind of fear. The kind of icy feel a girl gets when walking alone down a dark alley. I also knew that I was going to fight with everything I had because Natsu and Gildarts, they were out there, and they needed me. I couldn't be weak. I wouldn't let myself.

"Stay. Away. From. Me." I said through clenched teeth, snapping my whip in front of me as a warning. Mr. Lansky was unfazed. Not bothering to walk across the messy floor, he disappeared and then reappeared in front of me. His clothes had been singed and his hair-do was messed up, revealing the receding hairline he had been so careful to conceal. He was trying to crowd me. The nineteen-year-old from before was with him, his eyes kept darting to the bits of his companion left on the floor.

I raised my right arm, powering it up to whip Lanksy across his face as hard as I could. With incredible speed he caught my wrist, he twisted it harshly until I let out a cry and was forced to drop my celestial whip. He kept trying to push me backwards, but I refused to accept that. With my free hand I clawed him across the face, gouging my nails in where it counted.

"Aaarg! You'll pay for that one bitch!" He cursed, clamping a hand to his face where I had scratched him.

Before I could steady myself, brace for impact, or even have a clear thought, the teenager was on me. He socked me in the stomach, then shoved me backwards with his forearm at my throat. My back slammed hard against the wall causing me to grunt as he knocked out all my air. I could tell the kid was exhausted, he was breathing heavily and his arms shook as he held me back. My lips firmed as I leveled with him eye to eye. The look I got back was pure wrath. Hate danced in his pupils and he bared his teeth at me as I struggled against his grip. He was weaker than Lansky, but still stronger than me.

"That's right Justin." Lansky egged on from behind the kid. "This is how you get revenge. You fill that void. Fill it with her. They killed him, that's your little brother on the floor there." Both my gaze and the kids flickered to red headed boy who was in pieces on the restaurant floor. "This is how you get back at the people who did this."

I didn't dignify them with my screams. I jerked wildly under Justin's grip, he struggled to keep me contained. At one point I escaped and tried for a mad dash for the exit. Lansky got a fist full of my hair and with a force I'm surprised didn't snap my neck, slammed me into the bar. I fumbled for my keys then. A wild, primal terror had entered my body, gasping for any and every straw that might give me a chance. I knew I couldn't summon Aquarius on dry land, but I was desperate. I didn't even have my fingers over the right key before Lansky yelled. "Help me hold her down!"

Justin grabbed my arms and Lansky had my legs, I flopped like a fish on top of the bar. I worked to try an eel my hands out Justin's grip, I just needed a moment to try to grab the right key. The top of the bar was wet with spilled beer and I hoped that would be enough. I felt Lansky around my waist, a new wave of dread blanketed over me for what I knew in my heart was next. He unclasped my key holster and chucked it carelessly across the room. My whip on one end, keys on the other and neither where in by either exit.

Eventually you'll come across that moment, when you realize whether or not you're made of steel or full of fluff. Everybody thinks they're made of steel, that they'll be the last survivor on the island, that they'll do whatever it takes to win. I thought I was. I thought I was pure steel, right to the core. Although I maybe all girly, and frilly on the outside, that my insides where made up of something tougher. Turns out I'm all fluff in here to. The steel had been a façade for my squishy vulnerable insides. After all my training and conditioning, after everything. I was Barbie after all. I was all petals and pollen, no heavy metal in here.

I screamed then. With nothing left, my muscles void of even the extra oomph of adrenaline. My keys were across the room somewhere, with no idea what had happened to Natsu or any of the others. I screamed and screamed, my shrill voice ringing in my own ears, my lungs bursting with air. It was the desperate last cry of a desperate women.

"Go get something to tie her down with!" Yelled Lansky over my cries.

"What!?" Said Justin, clearly unable to hear him.

"God damn it! Would you shut up you dumb cunt!" Yelled Lansky. He slammed the butt of his gun into the side of my head. For a moment or so all I could see or feel was black.

I woke back up moments later, my head pounding with blood in my mouth and nose. I coughed and turned to spit out the contents of my mouth, that's when I realized I couldn't move very much. I was face up on a table, my arms tied under it with what felt like extension cord. My legs where tied to each leg of the table. With my brain foggy, it took a moment before I registered what was happening. There was a ringing silence, except for a slight tearing noise.

"She's awake." I heard from somewhere above me.

I felt a tug on my shirt. I looked down to see Lansky, ripping through my sweat and blood soaked silk blouse. What was happening to me dawned on me again, my brain finally catching up. I struggled against my bonds again, screaming as loud as I could, although this time my voice was so hoarse and my diaphragm so fatigued that I didn't have the volume that I needed.

"Go ahead." Grinned Lansky as he climbed on top of me. Thankfully, blessedly, he was still clothed. "Scream." He said. "There's no one around to hear you. Besides..." He lowered his face to mine, where I could examine it in greater detail. I guessed that he was in his mid-thirties, judging by the start of crow's feet around his eyes and the lines around his mouth. He wouldn't have been so bad to look at except for, he had never had braces which caused his lips to fold over his teeth in a way that reminded me of a parrot. He smelled awful like bourbon and an old foot.

"….. I like it when they struggle." He leaned even further to whisper in my ear. With nothing else left to me, I spit right in his face. Now spitting is not something I condone, it's not lady-like and not something a pretty girl should be caught doing. But I had no other options and I was clinging to every last shred of dignity I had.

Lansky recoiled and slapped me so hard across the face I saw stars and the room started to spin as my cheek felt like it was on fire. I could feel him ease back off of me and in one quick, swift tear, he ripped my bra completely off. I was now topless, bare breasts exposed, heaving hard as I tried to suck in the pain. He scooted back off me and onto the floor and whistled.

"Holy shit!" Exclaimed Justin. An evil, slimy grin spread across both of their faces, exchanging disgusting nods. Lansky was grease ball scum bag; any women with an eye for intuition could see that. He had these sort of tendencies lurking beneath the surface. This kid, Justin, he was only two or three years younger than I was, not a day over twenty. His reasoning's where different, you could tell in his eyes. For him this wasn't going to be about pleasure, this was supposed to be an outlet for his pain, for his dead brother laying on the floor. "How are we going to take her pants off with her tied up like that?" He asked.

I couldn't see his face anymore; Lansky had grown quiet for a moment, presumably thinking about this predicament. Finally, he said. "We're going to have to cut them off. There's gotta be a sheers in the kitchen."

It must have been a mark of how much of a roller coaster my last six months had been, that I didn't struggle. Six months ago I'd been wallowing over my ex-boyfriend, eating lucky charms and working at a bar for tips. My concerns about things like manicures, parties, and dying my hair just the right shade of honey blonde seemed a lifetime away. Laying there as these men cut off my pants with a pair of kitchen scissors while being tied to a table really put into perspective how frivolous my life had been. All I could think of was how right my dad had been right all along, and how I should've spent more time with him. I thought of Natsu, worried about him but at the same time deeply shamed for what I was allowing.

Now I know what you're thinking. How dare I give up. Sometimes I think that same thing to myself. If I had only got in one more jab or a head butt, screamed some more, anything, maybe it would've changed the outcome. But after a while, when your limbs feel like dead weights, and your throat is raw from screaming, giving in seems really tempting. What if I just let them? Will they let me go? If I close my eyes and pretend I'm somewhere else, will this whole thing be over sooner?

They were successfully down to my panties now, at least grateful to myself for not having put on a thong this morning. The two men were staring down at my almost naked body, stretched across the table, my long hair sticking to my clammy skin. As Justin hastily pulled his shirt over his shoulders, I turned my head to the side, hot, silent tears sliding down the sides of my face. I looked out one of the shattered windows, the sun disappearing over the horizon leaving a warm dusty glow over the earth. Morbidly I wondered if this was the last time I would ever see the sun.

A shadow loomed over me. The lights started to buzz and flicker. Briefly, I, for some reason, was reminded of the night I met Natsu on the street. Just as Justin had curled a finger under my soft, baby blue panties, someone exploded into the room.

"Get. The. Fuck. Off of her…" Growled someone. It was a guttural sound that seemed like a chorus in a hall of echoes. His words rang off the walls, and as the soft restaurant lights surrendered, the room was filled with nothing but the dusky orange light of the setting sun. Shadows expanded, enveloping the whole room and, unable to sit up to see properly, I could sense rather than see that they were moving. Something unworldly was slithering among the shadows, and not something…. Somethings. There was multiple.

"Oh not you again!" Groaned Lansky. Justin had scurried off of me. The shadows around the room started writhing and wriggling more intensely.

Then there was a fight I could not see, and didn't care to. My mind had slipped into a dark place, having faced a fate worse than death moments ago, I hadn't allowed for hope. For all I knew this was the start of something worse. So I laid there in a pitiful state, no longer caring what happened to me. I would like to blame the trauma and violence of the day, or perhaps all the concussions I'd suffered not just today but in the past few months, but deep down I knew it was something more than that. I had been totally and utterly defeated, mind body and soul. I was nothing but fluff.

Eventually my two assailants scurried off, slipping over all the debris on the floor in their haste to get out the door. "Oh Lucy…." Said a voice full of sorrow and regret. Again, I couldn't turn to face who it was, my thousand-yard stare drifted off to the last sliver of sun that sank beneath the horizon. I felt someone cut the cords that bonded me to the table, and still yet I didn't have the strength to move, to turn my head. I couldn't face who it was that had saved me.

With an immeasurable amount of care, he peeled me up off the table. Finally, unable to avoid yet another heart wrenching devastation for the day I finally looked up to see who it was. To my complete shock, it wasn't Natsu. A warm tidal wave of relief flooded into my body, giving me the strength to move. To cry.

"Gray!" I breathed, and upon realizing who it was wrapped my arms around his neck. Not caring that I was pretty much naked except for my underwear I clung to him. Real sobs shook my entire body and like a small child I nuzzled into his chest, my fists curled by my face. He wrapped his arms around me, one of his hands cradling the back of my head. For a long while we stood like that, him silently holding me while I cried and cried. It was the empathy and understanding I didn't know I had needed in that moment that put my shattered soul back together.

Natsu would have killed them. He wouldn't have turned to look upon my face until he was bathed in blood. It was who he was, I couldn't fault him for it, his fierce loyalty was part of the reason I loved him so. His temper was so red hot, so hostile that, had he walked into that scene, it would have consumed him. And despite his best efforts, when he did finally turn around to look at me, I guessed that judgement and suspicion would have swarmed in his eyes. But not Gray. When I looked in Grays eyes I only saw love, and sympathy. In a way that was quiet, that didn't ask questions. He was just there, when I had needed him most.

"Oh Lucy…" He said again seemingly at a loss of words for what to say, despair and compassion laced in his voice.

She felt smaller in my arms than I thought she would. Lucy was above average height, her personality and hair were so big she always seemed to take up a lot of space. For months, in the secret of the night I had dreamed of this moment, but never had I ever wished for it to be like this. In my heart of hearts, I had committed the worse sin a best friend could. I did my best to try to deny it, to distract myself with other things, sometimes that thing was Juvia. It wasn't fair to Juvia… or to Natsu, or even to Lucy.

Lucy, I'm sure was oblivious to my secret, I worked hard to keep it that way. But sometimes my feelings would slip through the cracks, like they are now. I hated myself for thinking it, for thinking that way after whatever horrors she'd endured today. It was hard for me to ignore the way her breasts pressed against my chest, how impossibly soft her skin was.

"I'm so sorry…" I was finally able to say after what felt like an eternity of racking my brain for something, anything, that would make this better. Upon coming to the realization that nothing would, I selfishly settled for what I was feeling. "Sorry I didn't get here sooner." Guilt diffused across my emotions.

I had chased Mr. Dillinger through the woods out back, despite his age he was in pretty good shape. We eventually emerged onto a highway on the other side of the forest, where by pure chance he was picked up by hitch hiking before I could reach him. I called Laxus to tell him the make, model, and license plate number of the car he got in, who would then in turn call the FBI and Police where an Amber Alert could be made. Defeated I had back tracked my way back to the restaurant, with the intention of helping clean up, having easily assumed Natsu and Gildarts would make short work of the gang. Never in a million years when I opened the door from the kitchen to the main restaurant did I expect to see what I did.

"Thank you." She said through her crying. "Thank you for getting here… before… they you know…" She couldn't finish that sentence, instead we both let the unsaid hang in air.

"It's alright Lucy. I've got you now." I say resting my chin on top of her head. "You're alright now." I cooed. My chest expanding as I was the one she was cuddling up to this time, not Natsu. Natsu, my best friend, who always came first in everything and what was worse, never rubbed it in my face. Not once. Coming in second place grew old after a while, and jealous would rear its ugly head, eventually. Especially when it came to Lucy.

Suddenly she ripped away from me, her eyes red and swollen, blood crusted at the corner of her mouth and nose. "Natsu!... Gildarts!" She exclaimed. "I don't know what happened to them! We have to find them Gray!"

I nodded. I knew that if I had found Lucy in this state, I could except to find Natsu and Gildarts in a worse one. "Alright." I say, trying to keep my voice as calm and even as possible, for her sake. "But you can't go out the way you are…here" I say unbuttoning my shirt and draping it around her for her to button up on her own. "At least wear this." Those bastards had at least left her shoes on, and my shirt on her was big enough on her to at least cover all the important bits.

"I think I last heard them from the parking lot." She says, scooting herself off the table and wiping the moisture off her face.

"Alright." I say gently. "I'll go look for them, you stay here."

"NO!" She says very vehemently. "I'm going with you."

Detecting a bit of fear for being left alone, I agreed. We picked our way through the destroyed restaurant together, and I didn't miss that Lucy was clinging onto one of my arms. Despite myself, my heart swelled at even this smallest of gesture of confidence.

The parking lot wasn't a parking lot anymore; it was a crater created by one of Gildarts explosions. By some miracle my Lexus teetered just on the edge of it, covered in mud and dust, but at least not totaled and in the crater like a lot of other cars and trucks.

"Look! Down there!" Exclaimed Lucy, pointed at a heap in the middle of the crater. It was dark now, and we had nothing but the faint rays of the street lights to go off of, but even so we could make out a mound of pink hair.

Together we rushed forward, my heart thudding rapidly against my ribs. We slipped and slid through the mud to get to them, Lucy seeming to have recovered a second wind having seen Natsu like that. It worried me, Natsu was our shield and our sword, not just for me but for all of Fairy Tail. He was our heavy. If ever someone got themselves in a situation that was over their heads, Natsu was always able to get us out, albeit in his own destructive way. For him to be this incapacitated, it didn't look good, and why hadn't he healed yet? Gildarts on the other hand, he was human, like the rest of us, he didn't have super human healing powers. Although none of us would ever tell him so, Gildarts was starting to slow down. From the outside looking in, you would never know it because he was so strong and talented, but for those of us who know him best, we've been noticing a hitch in his giddy up lately.

Lucy reached Natsu first, her legs and arms covered in dirt. Natsu was flopped over Gildarts, both of them half buried. She shook his shoulder as if she was trying to wake him up. When nothing happened she became more frantic. "Natsu… Natsu!? Natsu!" She cried rolling him over into her lap. He was riddled with bullet holes, his sweatshirt and jeans soaked with blood, his mouth gapped open when she moved him. I looked down at Gildarts, he'd been stabbed through his hoodie twice, the worst of which cut through his abdomen. Both of them were still alive, passed out due to blood loss. Neither had much time.

"Gray! We have to get them an ambulance!" Lucy cried, tearing her eyes away from Natsu's face to look at me. What I would give to see that look on her face for me.

"For Gildarts." I say. "We've got to get Natsu into my car. Come on, help me lift him."

Lucy looked at me like I had sprouted an extra head. "Are you crazy!? Look at him Gray! I don't even know how many there are!" Judging by the scene Natsu had jumped in front of the firing squad to save Gildarts. He'd saved Gildarts life, let's hope it didn't cost him his own.

"No! No hospitals for Natsu. Not ever! We've got to get him back to the guild hall, Wendy can patch him up."

"Gray! That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard…"

"….Listen to me Lucy. He can't go. They won't know what to do with him. The healing. They'll ask questions. He'll be taken away if we bring him to the hospital. He's the last one… we can't let _them_ have him. Not ever. He'll make it. Promise. Look, he's already stopped bleeding, but those bullets need to come out for it to heal properly. It's Gildarts we've got to worry about. Come on. Help me get them out of this pit."

I'd stuffed Natsu into the cramped back seat of my Lexus and called an ambulance for Gildarts. Then I called Laxus, gave him a brief update on the situation, which hospital they were sending Gildarts to and that we were on our way with Natsu.

The EMT's jumped into action upon the sight of Gildarts, hooking him up to all kinds of tubes and monitors, getting him on a stretcher. "How did the bleeding stop?" Asked one of the EMT's. I shrugged, I had suspected that Natsu's body draped over his could have something to do with it, couldn't tell them that without telling them about Natsu. The EMT looked out into the parking lot riddled with bodies and the partially destroyed restaurant. "I don't know what's gotten into you guilds lately, this is the third call like this I've made this week. Don't you people know that these people have families? Do you ever even give that a consideration before you go and blow them all up?"

"Yeah. Well. They attacked first." I supplement, not really knowing how to answer that, nor having any patience left to argue with a volunteer. We were just doing our job, and if there where casualties, well, that was part of the job to. "You'd never ask a soldier how many people they've killed. How many families they've torn apart. We're hired to keep the peace, what people like you don't realize is that peace and freedom come at a price."

"Hmm …. Maybe the good just isn't outweighing the bad anymore." Before I could reply he changed the subject. "Want us to take the girl to?" He asked, gesturing over towards Lucy. She had been shivering so badly that they had wrapped her in a blanket and given her a bottle of water.

"Nah." I say. "She's alright, just shaken up a little. She'll come with me. Doesn't take a $7,000 ride in a red truck to tell ya she needs a hot shower and some rest." The EMT nodded, seeming to accept that answer as he latched up the back of the vehicle after having wheeled Gildarts into it.

As soon as the ambulance turned on its sirens we dashed for my Lexus, taking off in the opposite direction. I put the pedal to the floor, determined to make it home in half the time it took us to get here, although I silently cursed realizing we would have to stop for gas.

Lucy kept turning around in her seat to look at Natsu with so much care and love in her eyes I felt a pang of insidious envy. Eventually she seemed to accept that she had done all she could do for the moment and, resigned herself to looking out the window, watching the lights outside whip by. We were dead silent for over an hour. What do you say after all of that? But there was something that I noticed. Something that was eating me.

"Those holes through your shoulder…" I say finally, cutting the stretching silence. "They're not from today are they?" I had a strong suspicion, and it made me sick to my stomach.

It was a moment before she responded carefully with. "No, they're not."

"….Natsu do that to you?" I say though clenched teeth, my grip tightening on the steering wheel as I decidedly focused my gaze on the road. How dare he!? How dare he be the one have her heart in his hands and then treat her like that…. If it where me…. It was almost imperceptible but out of my peripheral vision I could see her nod.

We were silent again for a while before I pulled into a gas station and shut the car off. For a moment, with my hand on the door, and biting the inside of my cheek I said. "You deserve better than that Lucy…. If I ever find out he hurt, you again…" I couldn't look at her, knowing my face would betray the emotions I tried so hard to conceal. Unable to finish that sentence because, quite frankly I didn't know what I would say. "Just… anyways..." I fumbled over my words, Lucy refusing to look at me and instead her expression unseeing out of my passenger window. Giving up I sighed finally deciding on. "You know you can always talk to me about it…about Natsu…. okay? I know not everyone will understand him, but I do." She gave a faint nod before I opened the door and started pumping gas.

Once we were back on the highway and the city lights glistened on the horizon Lucy said.

"Hey Gray."

"Yeah, Lucy."

"Don't… don't tell anyone about how you found me okay?"

"Lucy…" I almost growled, having already began planning the revenge Natsu and I would inflict upon those mounds of flesh that had the audacity to call themselves men.

"Please." She pleaded, placing a hand over top on mine on the gear shift, her warm brown eyes melting into my soul. With a look like that I could refuse her nothing, but it would mean betraying my best friend. I tore my eyes away from the road to look at her face longer, saving the moment, revealing in the electricity I felt, one sided though it was.

"Ah, fuck Lucy." I say, caving.

"Please!" She said again desperately. In her face I could see all the pain, all the shame and humiliation she had endured, and as much as I wanted to squash the life out of the men who had caused it, I also knew that it would only hurt her more if anyone else found out. I couldn't be the person to cause her any more pain, and in this I could be something for her Natsu couldn't be. Together, we would keep our sinful secret. I was the world's worst best friend.

"Alright." I relented.

….

Laxus ran out in the driveway to meet us, and he helped me carry Natsu into the guild hall, and arm slung over each shoulder. We laid him down on a cleared off table in the guild hall, which was empty except for Wendy, as everyone else has rushed off to the hospital for Gildarts. Face up, his breathing was shallow, and his eyes rolled to the back of his head, his eye lids twitching. My stomach dropped as I took stock of all the bullet holes. One in his shoulder, one in his arm, one in his hip and two in his legs. Had he been any other man, he would have bled to death by now. But he wasn't any other man. He was Natsu Dragneel. Each point of entry had red reptilian skin around the edges, and the edges looks swollen and purulent, as though his body had tried to heal around the led.

Wendy shot Laxus a nervous glance and I had to stop Lucy from trying to crawl onto the table with him. "Do what you can." Said Laxus firmly to Wendy, who nodded and sucked in a nervous breath. She started with the one on his shoulder, using magic to carefully extract the bullet from his tissue. Her brow beaded with sweat and her tongue peaked out of the corner of her mouth in concentration. The rest of us stared at her, waiting with bated breath. The seconds ticked by and nothing happened. A scowl marred Wendy's features and she brushed sweaty hairs from her face.

"What!? What is it?" Said Laxus, his composure impressively cool. Although the two adoptive brothers had their differences, I knew that deep down Laxus loved Natsu more than anything. Lucy on the other hand had her nails clawing into my forearm, her face as white as a ghost and I was worried she was moments away from feinting. She'd been through more than all of us today and I wasn't sure when it was the last time she'd eaten.

"It's Natsu." Wendy said, her voice strained with effort. "I think…. I think I'm going to have to pull the bullets out manually. My magic… it's not working. He's repelling whatever I try."

Laxus nodded. "If I remember correctly dragons are resistant to magic."

"But my magic's worked on him before." Supplied Wendy, confused.

"It's gotta be the scales. That's the only thing that's different. Maybe it's the scales that are resistant."

"That makes sense." I say.

"Then what are we going to do!?" Lucy said worriedly, her hands shaking.

Wendy looked right at Laxus as she said. "I'll have to pull them out with foreceps, but the skin has swollen over the edges. It'll be painful, and if my magic won't work on him there's nothing I can do to relieve the pain." She looked at the three of us taking stock of our situation, I could see a plan develop in her kind eyes. "Lucy." She said turning to Lucy who perked up, eager to do something that would help Natsu. "Go into the kitchens, start boiling some rags in water."

"Right." She said as I let her go and she ran for the kitchen.

"Now Laxus, you get his arms, Gray get his legs." Ordered Wendy. A part of me finding it a bit silly that two grown ass men were taking instruction from a teenage girl, and if we all made it through this okay, I made a mental note to pick on her for this later.

"What's the water for?" Asked Laxus as we all got into position, Wendy using a lighter to sterilize a pair of tweezers in preparation.

"To get Lucy out of here. She looks about two seconds away from hitting the deck and Natsu isn't going to like this… alright you two. Ready!? One! Two! Three!" With a grunt of effort Wendy dug around in Natsu's skin, trying to get her tool clasped firmly around the bullet.

Bolting to life Natsu screamed, writhing on the table, Laxus and I held him down with effort. Wendy quickly shoved her hands over Natsu's mouth to dampen his screaming so Lucy wouldn't hear. Natsu's eyes returned to consciousness for a moment before passing back out, his breathing rapid. Without the bullet there anymore the scales dissolved back into flesh, and blood welled in the wound. Wendy quickly shoved gauze in it, working to put pressure on it as she had Laxus lift up his torso so she could bandage it.

"Alright. One down." She said breathlessly, blowing thin strands of black hair from her face. "Four more to go, we'd better hurry before Lucy comes back."

And so the process began, for the ones on Natsu's arms and legs she but a tourniquet on, making the bandages much cleaner, but the ones on his shoulder and hip she couldn't so those ones bled through. It was on the last bullet on his leg that Lucy emerged from the kitchen, holding a big pot with oven mitts on her hands. Her timing was inopportune as at that moment Natsu sat up again, and Wendy had been too slow to stifle his painful howls.

"Natsu!" She gasped as she lost her grip on the steaming pot and it crashed to the floor splattering boiling water everywhere. Unfazed by her burns Lucy clambered across the room, reaching Natsu just as he faded back into unconsciousness.

Finishing up Wendy said. "He'll be alright, but he needs rest. Now that the bullets are out his body can do its super healing thing on its own, my guess is he'll sleep for a while." Laxus and I carried him to his bedroom and laid him on his bed, Lucy tucking him in.

"Thank you." She said to Laxus, Wendy and I, exhaustion plain across her face.

"No need to thank us." Said Wendy, giving Lucy a hug. "It's what guilds are for."

"We'll uh… leave you two alone." Said Laxus a little uncomfortably.

I waited for the other two to leave the room before I said to Lucy in a low voice. "If…. If you need to talk to somebody about what happened to you tonight…. Just… just know I'm here. I know you might not believe it, but I'm a pretty good listener."

"Thanks Gray." She says, once again tearing her eyes away from Natsu to look at me. "For everything."

"What are friends for?" I shrugged, and noticing Lucy's attention turned back to Natsu's face I said "Good night, Lucy." Slowly closing the door. Before the door could latch into place I spied through the thin crack as I watch Lucy climb from Natsu's arm chair into the bed with him. Snuggling into the crevice of his arm, as if by her mere presence she could heal him. Hell, I knew if she held me like that, it would heal me. Another pang jealously burned in my gut as I closed the door on them, leaving the two alone together until Natsu woke up. I turned around to meet Laxus who was shrugging his coat on, startled as I hoped he hadn't caught me spying on them.

"I'm going to go see Gildarts. You coming?" He asked. Unwilling to lay by myself in the room next-door while the girl of my dreams cried hot tears over the injuries of my best friend, I agreed to come.


	19. Chapter 19

**Thank you again for all your patience. Just giving another warning that this is also another pretty dark chapter, but don't worry things will start to lighten up again after this one!**

Chapter 19

A Hearts Heavy Burden

Laxus

Everyone was in the waiting room when Gray and I arrived. Apparently they had taken Gildarts straight into surgery, he's been under for hours by now. Seven pairs of tired eyes looked up at me, searching for guidance. I realized then, I was looking at nearly my whole guilds tired eyes, everyone but Natsu, Lucy and Wendy, where here. All of them where exhausted from having either having finished their missions, or having left in the middle of them. Missions that I had assigned, not discounting that I had chosen these missions that lead us to this place. How had I overlooked something? Was there something I didn't know about going on at play?

Eyes looked up every time the doctors and nurses swung in and out of the revolving door. I scanned the room to take stock of my guild, a strange sort of warmth seeped into my heart, mixing with knot of anxiety in my stomach I felt for Gildarts and Natsu's recovery. And Lucy… there was something off about her to, I made a mental note to take her side of the story when we got back. There was something about how we had all come together, leaping into action when one of us needed it. That was the Fairy Tail I was proud to serve.

"Laxus, you're here!" Said Lisanna as she stood up to greet me with a hug. I kissed the side of her head, snaking an arm around her as I took everybody's in the grave expressions. Erza was playing with the lid of a Coke can, her foot bouncing nervously, Jellal put a hand on her lap to quiet it. Gajeel was returning from the vending machine with a Frappuccino for himself and Cana, who downed half of hers in one go, rubbing her drowsy, mascara crusted eyes.

Juvia squealed and leapt up at the sight of Gray, crushing his rib caged while she gushed. "Oh Gray! I'm so relieved, I was so worried about you. When I heard you were going out on a mission again with Lucy I was beside myself! You always get hurt when you're with her, but you're here now with me. I'm so grateful!"

"Hey Juvia." Gray said, barely concealing his repulsion with her. Vaguely I wondered why he was suddenly so melancholy about Juvia. Six months ago I had thought Gray and Juvia where one Facebook post away from becoming official. I know I had caught them, on multiple occasions with Juvia sitting on Grays lap before. I didn't know what had happened between them and I wasn't so sure I wanted to know.

I dragged my gaze across the room, searching for the face I knew would be taking this the hardest. Mirajane was by herself, in the corner of the room. She hadn't even looked up to great us, her eyes all red and puffy from crying, her hands supporting her head while she stared hopeless at the revolving door.

"Hold on Lisanna." I said before I whispered something into her ear. She nodded encouragingly at me, to which I was thankful. Lisanna was always supportive of my role as Guild Master…. Well…. Until she wasn't. But she was never upset when I had to leave her to fulfill my duties. It was largely due to her unwavering support that I found the courage to be a leader in times like these. Although my relationship with her had all but deteriorated my relationship with Natsu, a break I was hopeful would mend soon, I knew that I couldn't have done this job without her.

I worked my way over to Mirajane and took a seat beside her. "How is he?" I asked, bracing myself for the worst. I wasn't sure how I would be able to lead my guild through this grief if the worst should happen.

"Last we heard was they were able to stop the bleeding; they're stitching up his internal organs now." She said, focusing on folding a used Kleenex in her hands. "Doctor says he's not out of the woods yet…" Mirajanes voice became thick with emotion. She looked up at me for support. I could probably count on one hand the amount of times I'd seen Mirajane without make up, this was one of those times. Her cheeks where flushed, her eyes puffy, her lips cracked. She was wearing flannel pajama bottoms tucking into Ugg boots with a Dolce and Gabbana wool coat sloppily hanging from her shoulders. "Laxus… I… I…" She stuttered, moisture welling in her eyes again. "I never told him… I…" She managed before she fell into a fit of renewed sobs.

"Ssshhh. It's okay." I say, wrapping an arm around her shoulders for a side squeeze. "He knows Mira. I'm sure he knows."

Unceremoniously Mirajane blew her nose into her Kleenex. "Really? You think so?" She asked, searching my face for reassurance.

Gildarts saw himself in Mirajane. Like her, he had had a spell in the socialite life style in his youth, dating a string of ballerinas and runway models. He'd even had a bit of fame himself, having been featured attending parties at the Playboy Mansion, or celebrity basketball games. After discovering he'd had a kid, he settled down, conscious he wasn't setting a good example for his daughter. In a way he had become a father figure for all of us, without Gramps around, he was the oldest member in the guild, and we'd all benefit from his tough love lectures now and again.

Though I had no real evidence, I had suspected Gildarts harbored feelings for Mirajane for a while now, with nothing to go on but a hunch. Cana was grown up now and he could choose a woman to settle down with, I suppose I had assumed that he'd been waiting for Mirajane. They'd sort of had this flirtatious banter going on for a while now, and they were sort of each other's type. Mirajane's reaction now however, lead me to believe that things between those two might have been farther along than I thought. All this internal drama sure helped me understand why some guilds only permit arranged marriages. Sabretooth being one.

"Mirajane." I said finally, my voice raspier than I would have liked. "Gildarts is the strongest man I know. If anybody could survive this, he can."

The surgeon pushed through the revolving door, snapping off his bloody gloves. The whole room pivoted, waiting with bated breath. "We've closed him up, the healing nurses have done all they can. Now I have done all I can, the rest is up to him. He's off the gas now, you can all go and see him if you'd like. Just fifteen minutes though, he needs to rest."

We all stood up in unison, all filing inline respectfully after Cana and Mirajane.

Seeing Gildarts like that, tucked neatly into his hospital bed, looking smaller and more venerable than I'd ever seen him, all hooked up to various beeping machines. Gildarts the great, a brave, fearless man with a formidable loyalty for Fairy Tail. The guild to reduced a mountain of a man to this, an I was to blame. I couldn't help but notice the grey that peppered his beard and hair I hadn't notice before, the fine lines by his eyes. It reminded me that Gildarts would have an expiration date, that we all did _._ A frog had lodged in my throat.

"Dad." Cana said softly as she clasped both of her hands onto one of his, her tears spilling onto the sheets. Her reaction had made the rest of us tear up, as she had never called him that before. He was always Gildarts to her, despite his persistent insistence that she call him Dad. Mirajane was by his head, smoothing his long russet hair back, her own tears falling onto his pillow. The rest of us stood there quietly, at a loss for what to say. Eventually our fifteen minutes where up, with solemn expressions the rest of us filed out of the room, leaving Mirajane and Cana alone with him for the night.

Lucy

"If he wakes up and sees you like this… well… it won't help it any." Said Erza trying to convince me to leave Natsu's room, if only to take a shower and eat something. I was still covered in dirt, sweat, blood and tears. My hair was a tangled mess that wouldn't even be contained by a pony tail and I'm sure I reeked to high heaven. It was the next day, almost the next evening, and Natsu hadn't woken up yet.

"I can't." I replied simply, unwilling to take my eyes off Natsu for a second. I wanted to be there the instant he woke up. Guilt weighed heavy on my bones, enough to swallow me whole. I hadn't been there when he needed me. I had been cowering behind a bar, and what was worse, everything that happened after. I felt guilty, guilty for hiding, guilty for giving up, guilty for letting Gray hold me so intimately when I had lost myself. Guilty for intending to keep the whole thing secret. How could I leave to do something so selfish as shower when I was the reason he was in this state to begin with? I voiced a modified version of this to Erza.

"Don't you dare." Erza reproached, grabbing my chin and forcing me to look at her. "Don't you dare think like that! They both might've been dead if you'd have gotten in the way." I tore my face out of her grasp, unable and unwilling to reveal the whole truth to her. I could feel her intense stare bore into the side of my face as I said, albeit, a little hysterically.

"How do you know!? How do you know I would've gotten in way! They needed me Erza! I could have helped them! I could have…" I paused trying to think of something clever I could have done, lord knows I've been replaying the scenario over and over in my head trying to think of what I could have done differently. I sniffled, and tried to whip the snot off discreetly with back of my arm.

Erza took advantage of my congestion. "You would've only added to the list of things they needed worry about." She said, her words harsh and cold, the upper half of her face covered in shadow due to the dim light of the candelabra in the pitch black room. "And I'm telling you this Lucy as someone who has been saved by Natsu more times than I can count." I could tell it was with effort that she admitted this information to me. "He's a force of nature, the things he's capable of…. trust me when I say Lucy if they were in that much trouble…. There is nothing you could have done. There is more nobility in following direct orders than there is in reckless courage."

I gave her a stiff nod, unable to peel my eyes away from Natsu's face. His skin had a warm, golden glow to it in the fire light, shadows disappearing beneath his jawline, a beard of sparse pink hairs sprouted over his cheeks sporting a week's worth of growth. There was a moment of awkward pause, in which Erza watched me watch Natsu.

"Huh." She huffed behind me. "You know something? You're every bit as stubborn as he is sometimes."

"What'd you mean?" I asked as she pulled up Natsu's desk chair up to his bedside.

"After the Oracion Sies attacked and you where…. Well. You where…. Incapacitated let's say."

"Erza." I interrupted, knowing that I was finally in a position where Erza might tell me. "I know I've asked you this before but, well, I can't get anybody to give me a straight answer. Nobody will tell me what happened that day. I mean Gray told me Natsu …. you know…."

"Turned into a fucking dragon you mean." She finished, leaning forwards to lace her hands over her knees. As if in thought she took a long moment, eventually sighed, staring into the candle's flames. Erza shook her head as if deciding something, then continued. "It happened because you almost died Lucy."

"What!?" I exclaimed in a shout whisper so as not to disturb Natsu. I had known I had been unconscious, but I couldn't remember how I'd gotten there. I hadn't seen a light at the end of the tunnel, my life hadn't flashed before my eyes, all I remembered was black. Nothing. Is that what death is? Unremarkable yet eternal. Gone, without even your own thoughts. Simply the absence of being.

"Brain. He tore a whole right through you. The whole thing happened in a matter of minutes, but it felt like longer with you bleeding out like that. There was so much of your blood, it was everywhere…... I think that's what triggered Natsu, although I'm not sure even he understands why. Almost killed Laxus for trying to help you. It was Gildarts, I think, what brought him back."

"Why wouldn't any of you tell me?" I asked incredulous, I had felt like the whole guild had conspired against me in keeping this secret. I turned towards Erza, my hand grasping her forearm, my eyes pleading for an answer.

Erza shrugged. "Suppose we were trying to protect you. We thought it best that you not feel guilty about what's been happening to Natsu. You see Lucy, you've said it yourself, that you've seen glimpses of what lays beneath the surface."

"I have." I said, nodding intently. "But isn't it better if he learns how to control it? Maybe the theory of trying to contain him isn't the right answer? It's clearly not working, maybe it's time to try a new tactic?"

Erza turned away from me to feast her eyes on Natsu, her hair was swept up into an elegant crimson bun at the nape of her neck, the flickering light from the candles reflecting off of her thin neck and high cheek bones, her voice grave as she said. "We don't know what's on the other side. He may very well be stuck as a monster forever for all we know. But it's also more than that. The world thinks dragons are gone forever and I'm scared for what will happen whenever this gets out. Whatever Natsu is, he's one of a kind. We don't know what his limits are, but I do know this. Whatever battle Natsu is fighting inside…. he's losing."

"I'm not so sure about that." I say quietly, remembering that he hadn't been all scaled up earlier when he could have been. I suspected it was because he was trying not to destroy the building, or show a little consideration. I worried that this event might harvest more of his merciless nature, a bad trait of his that needed a little nurturing. Natsu could have quite a formidable temper, and when he got that way there was no reasoning with him. If he was going to kill, he should at least show some empathy, some remorse for the people's who's lives he's taken, for the lives of the people left behind.

"I'll make a deal with you." Said Erza changing the subject, her mood lightening. "I'll watch over him while you go shower, then I'll have Mirajane bring you something to eat. Deal? I'll holler if anything changes." She said, when I opened my mouth to protest she added. "Do you really want him to wake up to the smell of death breath and B.O.?"

Natsu

A hot itchiness spreading all over my body woke me up, I was scratching my leg before I even opened my eyes. I tried to sit up to scratch at a spot opposite my leg, on my shoulder; but there was a weight preventing me. I opened my eyes to see Lucy, nuzzled into my side, she was on top the covers and I was under them. I sank back into the bed, silently cursing that she was preventing me scratching that side of my body, but at least she was in one piece. She was wearing thread bare sweatpants with a loose fitting T-shirt, her hair smelling like her floral shampoo. I inhaled into her hair, which even I felt like a creep for doing. The sent made me feel like I was standing in the pouring rain, right at the very moment it suddenly stopped. Lucy moaned a little, flopping one of her arms over my chest. Her stirring forced me out of a sleepy haze, and I rubbed at my eyes.

I hadn't known how long I was out for, or how I'd gotten back to the Guild Hall. I tried to remember what had happened and rejuvenation flooded my veins as I regained awareness. I smoothed Lucy's hair back out of her face and kissed her forehead. Immediately her eyes fluttered open, relief evident on her features. "It's time to get up." I say, hastily, pushing the covers off.

"Wh… what?" She says, waking up slowly and rubbing her eye with her palm while she propped herself up on an elbow. "Not so fast!" She said as I sat up and got out of bed. "Hold on!"

I took inventory of my body as I looked down. I was stripped down to my boxer briefs, and parts of my body that couldn't easily be sponged clean, where still dirty. I had five new scars all over the front of my body, indicative of bullet wounds. "Huh, interesting. Wendy get all five out?" I asked Lucy.

"Yes… well… I think so at least. You know you could be a little more… a little more…" She stuttered as she hung her feet over the edge of the bed, loosening her sleepy head pony tail.

"A little more what?" I prodded, a twinkle in my eye. I can admit that perhaps my mood was a little lightened that not only had I survived, but that I had woken up next to Lucy again. I was relieved she was alright; she wasn't even hurt…. And her smell lingering on my sheets flooded my ego.

"Cautious!" Was the word she finally set on, pink flushing her cheeks.

"Aahh, Lucy! Have I caught you worrying about me again?" I teased, walking back over towards her.

"I… well… yes, maybe I have. So what!? It's not like you've been shot before!" She challenged.

"Sheesh, don't be so defensive! Besides, it's kind of cute, but remember, no need to worry." I say, flexing my arms for her to demonstrate how I was the picture masculine health. "I'm a little more durable than your average bloke." I nuggied the top of her head like a little kid. She scowled at me for ruining her hair, batting her hands at my arms. I laughed easily with the knowledge we'd made it out of the roadside bar alive.

Little did she know I _had_ been shot before, although in fairness not five times at once. Suddenly, I remembered a time when I was eighteen, having come back from one of my first official missions. Before Wendy joined, Ol' Makarov used to patch me up. I remember him telling me to bite onto a leather belt while he dug a bullet out from between my ribs with an old pair of tweezers. Hurt like a son of bitch. I was grateful for the Wendy addition, seeing as I could never go to the hospital. She took good care of all of us, plus her methods where a far sight more educated than Makarovs.

"Hey." I said startled, checking around my room and listening for any other noises coming from the Guild Hall. "Where's everybody else?" I asked, my skin prickling as I was realizing a foreboding silence. Silence in Fairy Tail was never good.

I froze as I watched the way Lucy looked down at her lap, something had happened. I racked my brain trying to remember, walking myself through the events of the previous day. "Gildarts…" Said Lucy, quietly into her lap, just as I remember that he had been stabbed a second time through the gut. "He's in the hospital. I don't know specifics because I stayed here with you, but I hear he's awake now at least." I started opening my dresser drawer to find a pair of pants.

"What are you doing?" Asked Lucy, still a little frazzled by how quickly I had gone from being shot to jumping out of bed and riffling through drawers. That reminds me.

"How long was I out for?" I asked, ignoring her question as I pulled a sweatshirt over my head. I wanted to ask her if she'd been with me the whole time, but suddenly felt like the question was too intimate and pulled back.

"Two days." She said sternly, folding her arms over her chest. "Where are you going?" She asked rephrasing her question.

"C'mon get up, let's go." I said. "To the hospital, obviously."

….

After visiting with Gildarts and the others, Lucy and I went back to the Guild Hall for lunch because we were both starving, and she insisted on changing her clothes. I was in the kitchen making a bowl of macaroni and cheese with cut up hot dogs in it, one of the few culinary delicacies I've mastered. I was pulling hot dogs out of their package when Laxus strolled into the kitchen, grabbing an energy drink from the fridge.

"Glad to see you're alright." He said dipping his head in my direction. He looked awful, liked he'd hardly slept.

"You too."

"So…. What happened?" He asked, leaning against the fridge, a sign that he was gearing up for a conversation. "I've been meaning to ask Gildarts, but I can never get a moment alone. Cana and Mirajane have been beside themselves. What's your side of things? I've already got Gray's end, it's going to be a logistical nightmare for us and the FBI if what he says is true. You killed four, Gildarts two, Gray one, more are in intensive care…. I get you did what you had to do but… Jesus Christ Natsu… four!? Fuck man… Probably best I get the full story from you before the feds start poking around." I poured the boiling water through a drainer over the sink. I shrugged, my body count was something I tried to net let bother me. Although I did feel a pang of regret for how I'd had to do it. Burning is a horrible death, it why I preferred to use a sharp sword whenever I can help it. Eyeballs explode out of their sockets, polyester clothing melting to their skin, and in the end they're mummified corpses with nothing left but dental records to identify them with.

"Following Mr. Dillinger was no easy task; he was onto us from the start." I started, then paused to turn off the burner. I had never held much regret over the act of killing itself, because every time I did, there had been other option. When the alternative is death, or compromising someone I loved, it's really no choice at all. Every life cost me a piece of my soul, and by now my soul had more holes in it than Swiss cheese, it was a price I would pay time and again for the members of Fairy Tail. I'm not a religious man, but if there really are pearly gates beyond the veil, I know sure as hell there's no way they'll open for me. No. I'm going to the other place, and there's an odd sort of freedom to life once you've accepted it.

"We lost him in the first ten minutes." I continued. "Had to spend the rest of the day playing catch up. He seemed to constantly be changing locations, stepping onto public buses once he'd step out of a private car kind of thing. We'd almost caught him in a café but he left in an unmarked car before we could catch him." We would have had him earlier in the day, but Gildarts seemed to have to need to stop and piss more times than I deemed usual. "Once we lost him that time we thought it was for good, but the waitress thought she had overheard something about a meeting in the town Lucy and Gray where in. We put two and two together and headed straight there. Got there just in time by the looks of it. Gray's a fucking imbecile." I finished, mumbling a string of curses as I poured a little too much milk into the mixture.

" _Gray_ ended up tailing Dillinger while you two apprehended the mobsters. He may be an idiot but we were able to tip off the FBI enough that the police ended up apprehending Dillinger on the highway based off of Grays description of the vehicle. As a result, we at least got paid half."

"God Damn it!" I cursed as I stirred the pasta vigorously, annoyed that I had to be indebted Gray for something. "Why'd it gotta be him. You know I'll never hear the end of this."

Laxus chuckled, "Probably so man, eh feed him enough beers and he'll forget."

"Feed him too many beers and then he REALLY won't shut up." I countered. Laxus laughed a little harder before falling into a fit of coughs, when he recovered he said.

"You're probably right about that. Also Natsu…" Laxus changed the subject, dragging his words out as if he was about to ask me for a big favor.

"Ugh. What? What is it?" I asked, exasperated, sampling my work off of the wooden spoon.

"It's Juvia and Mirajane's mission." He admitted, and I could tell how exhausted he was because actually yawned. Bags hung under his eyes, which where irritated from sleep deprivation. "They left in the middle of it, and well it was reasonably profitable. Seeing as we only got half of the proceeds from your mission, and none from Lucy and Grays…."

"You want me to go clean up their mess?"

"The LAPD wants names and locations of a gang of teenagers who've been robbing corner stores at gun point for cash, cigarettes and forties. It's not a ton of money, but it's twenty grand."

"And because I've proven myself bullet proof, you'd rather send me." My missions lately had been one round of fuck up or another, so I did feel like I owed the guild some clean up duty at the least.

"That's the long and the short of it."

"Alright fine, just let me get lunch and a shower at least." I say finishing up cutting my hotdogs and dropping them into the pot. Laxus, I had noticed, seemed to like to take a lot of government related jobs for the guild. Didn't much matter to me, but I supposed it made sense. In a city that was going to shit, perhaps he was relying on big brother to steer his moral compass. Plus, it never hurt to have the authorities on your side, and with Laxus's infatuation with military-like management, perhaps this is how he best thought Fairy Tail should weather the storm. In truth, not an altogether terrible idea.

Lucy had chosen that moment to enter the kitchen, the door shut behind her. She stood in front of the door, her mouth gaping as she overheard the tail end of our conversation. "Laxus! Are you nuts!? You can't send him back out there! He's been out for two days and he only just woke up for Christ's sake!" She had brushed her hair and put on skinny jeans with a tight fitting pink top that complimented the angry flush to her face.

For a moment a guilty expression flickered across Laxus's face and he opened his mouth to respond. "It's alright Lucy." I say before Laxus could get his words out. "I don't mind." I mean of course I'd rather spend my afternoon watching horror documentaries with Lucy in my room, but there would always be time for that after.

"He got shot five times Laxus! On a mission YOU sent him out on." She continued ruthless, ignoring me completely. "You're always giving him the most dangerous missions, and now you're sending him as the clean-up crew up for everyone else! It's not fair! Send someone else!" I had tried to interrupt, to defend Laxus, but she dismissed me, storming right past me and up to Laxus, shaking an index finger at him. Her chest rising and falling in a kind of nervous frustration. There was a fierce look in her eyes, that, in time I would become all too familiar with.

Internally I was cringing, I knew all the guilt Laxus carried, a load full of bulky baggage that was dumped onto him by the old man. I didn't envy him that burden; it wasn't so different from the weight I carried. When anyone of us got hurt, it was he who shouldered the blame, who harbored the responsibility. It was a curse that plagued all Guild masters, and I watched it slowly corrode the heart of Makarov, it destroyed him in ways he would never recover from. A large part of me believed it was why he ran away to Florida. Now I was having to watch the same thing happen to Laxus, and I found it tactless the way Lucy was throwing Laxus's own demons at him, she was relentless. "Sending him out while he's recovering is crass and irresponsible. You're asking for catastrophe making Natsu work when he's not 100%. There are plenty of other members capable! Send Jellal, or Gajeel, or hell even send me!"

"That's enough Lucy!" I bark, storming up and tearing her finger away from Laxus's face. It was strange, this sense of allegiance I was sprouting for Laxus. I suppose I'd developed sense of kindship for him after all these years, despite his flawed morals. Hell, I sure as shit knew my own moral compass was just as fucked.

"You're right Lucy." Said Laxus quietly. Lucy looked shocked that she had won so easily, and I looked shocked by how easily he had given in. "I'll go."

"Don't be asinine!" I moan, folding my arms over my chest. "You look about ready to keel over. I've slept for two days, I'm fine. After I eat I'll be ready."

"Fine!" Then Lucy said stubbornly, mimicking my stance, turning her nose up in the air snobbishly. Her arms crushed her boobs together creating a bulge in her shirt fabric. I wondered what kind of bra she was wearing under her clothes that made them stand out that way. "Then I'm coming with you, and that's that!"

Shaking my head from the daze produced by her cleavage I said. "No, absolutely not!" At the exact same time Laxus did. Jinx. Lucy puffed up her chest like she was about to argue but Laxus and I teamed up, steam rolling over the top of her. "Lucy, you're being ridiculous and over reacting. I can handle a few teenagers with two hands tied behind my back." I said casually.

Lucy flinched, a response I hadn't expected. An expression I hadn't witnessed her make before slithered onto her face. Laxus said "Besides, you'll only slow him down. This whole thing will be over faster if we just let Natsu get this business over and done with."

It was as though someone had taken the wind out of her sails and I couldn't figure out why, what had we said? Something had triggered her as she switched from hot and fiery to subdued so fast I had whip lash. I mulled over the past few seconds in my head to try to figure out what the trigger had been, but I came up short.

"Natsu..." Lucy breathed, looking up at me in a wave of concern. Laxus took the way she looked at me as his que to exit.

"I'll be careful Lucy. Promise." I say, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, warming a hand on her arm.

"You better be!" She warned, serving me a scowl.

Lucy

Knuckles wrapped on my door and I got up to answer it. I had been laying on my bed, texting my dad about Christmas break plans. He had been trying to lore me into spending time with him, using a trip to Hawaii as a bribe. When Mom was around the three of us always used to go for Christmas. It broke my heart to decline. It was Laxus again, he was wearing gym shorts and a tight black t-shirt. "Hey Lucy, can we talk?"

My heart sank and beat faster all at the same time. "Uh, yeah." I say nervously, welcoming him to my vanity stool, the only place to sit in my room other than my bed. I wasn't sure what to expect with Laxus coming to my room like this, rather than summoning me to go to him. The last time he'd done this was when he asked me to join Fairy Tail. Natsu had only just left on his second mission, and I'd be lucky if he was back before the morning. "So, what's this about?" I asked innocently enough.

"About Natsu." He started gravely, looking down at his hands on his lap.

"Yeah." I say, urging him on.

"You're right. I do take advantage of the fact that he can heal better than the rest of us, and there may very well be a day I regret it." He said, pulling his eyes up from his lap to meet mine. "I do it to protect the other members of the guild, and for that Lucy I am sorry. It can be a hard decision to make especially when he always…. and I mean always has bounces back, no matter what's thrown at him. But we don't fully know what he…. What his limits are. That doesn't mean he's invincible, it is a very real possibility that one day he meets his kryptonite so to speak. And when that day comes I'll be sorry. He's my brother after all and the last thing I want to do is put him in danger, but look at Gildarts. If Natsu hadn't been there, he'd have been dead, no question. In a guild like this, it's hard to have an ace up my sleeve and not use it."

"Why are you telling me all this?" I asked, suspicious by the sudden insight Laxus was giving me into his position. Why did he care what I though? What did it matter? He leaned forward over his knees, to look at my face closer, stubble shadowing over his square jaw.

"Because Lucy, I need you to understand why I do it." I took this moment to study Laxus maybe a little closer than I had in the past. I had been expecting a lecture, or at the very least a swift reminder of my own position. What I had not expected was the look in Laxus's eyes, it was a look that sought redemption and empathy.

"I can understand, but that doesn't mean I think it's right." I said. Laxus nodded as a respect to my stance. "Anyways…." I say changing the subject because it only made me worry about Natsu more than I already was. I adjusted the way I folded my legs over the side of the bed before I asked. "Is that all you came for?" I cocked a brow, knowing that there had to be more, he wouldn't have come all the way down to my room just for that.

"As a matter of fact no, I have something I want to ask Lucy, and when I do I would like to make it clear that I'm asking you as Gildmaster, not as your friend. So take some care to tell the whole truth will you?" He looked down on me in a way that me feel small and juvenile. His dark grey eyes boring down on my brown ones with an intensity I avoided, contemplating what tell him. I had a foreboding feeling, I couldn't do that, I couldn't tell him the truth; it was too humiliating.

I did end up telling him every last detail I remembered, right up to the color of his Mr. Dillinger's shirt, and Mr. Miller's fake Rolex watch. I explained how I had realized the two missions where connected while we were trying to play it cool in the banquet hall. I told him what Gray had done to save us, I told him about Mr. Miller's betrayal, I told him about the moment when Natsu and Gildarts busted in. I told him how Natsu had ordered me to hide behind the bar. And then I lied. Unable to say the words aloud, because then it would mean that it was real, what hadn't happened, really almost had. So I told Laxus a story, straight to his face. I said that I was so scared that I had continued to hide for 40 minuets in silence before finally getting up to look for Natsu in Gildarts. I lied even further to tell him that I had assumed the silence meant that they had taken the fight somewhere else, rather than that they were in trouble. It was a horribly, humiliating story to tell, because in reality I jumped up as soon as I heard Natsu and Gildarts yelling. My story made me sound like I was Princess Barbie coward, playing at being in a guild. But it was still better than tell him the truth.

I had expected Laxus to be mad about my supposed cowardice, Erza would have been, and I would have understood. Guilds don't need spoiled rotten little brats who are afraid to show their teeth, but I hadn't been the coward I was making myself up to be. What I actually was, was way worse. I was kind the kind of coward who gave up hope. A sick feeling curled up in my stomach as Laxus, put a kind hand on my shoulder. I stared at his hand on me, unwilling to meet his eyes as I couldn't help the disbelief evident on my face. I knew what he was going to say before he said it.

"It's aright Lucy, I understand."

In his plight to be a compassionate leader, he'd fallen hook, line and sinker for the damsel act. Turns out even Laxus was susceptible to a women's whiles. If I had been a man, I was sure sympathy wouldn't have been Laxus's reaction. A part of me was disappointed, it made me feel like he saw me as Natsu's pet after all, that he hadn't seen any real potential in me this whole time. A guilt for having lied to Laxus also poisoned me, another weight I would have to carry. I was harboring so much of it lately. I wondered if this feeling would ebb over time, or if this was just the new me. Well I was determined to prove Laxus wrong, I did deserve to be in this guild, and I would work hard to earn my place.

Gray

Hours Later

After having beaten Gajeel in yet another round of Call of Duty, I strutted into the guild hall brimming with confidence and looking forward to celebrating the win. Erza, Jellal and Wendy where playing cards at the bar, Lucy was sitting next to them, but instead of playing the game she was stirring ice around in her glass. She looked so melancholy it made me want to punch whoever made her that way, although I suspected the fact that Natsu hadn't returned might've been part of it. That and… everything else that happened to her.

I hadn't had the chance to run into Natsu yet, and when I did, I still hadn't figured out what it was I was going to tell him. I know I promised Lucy I wouldn't say anything, but keeping the whole thing from him just felt wrong, I swear my blood turned to acid just thinking about it.

As I approached the bar, a triumphant grin smeared across my face as I cocked my arm back preparing to slap Lucy on her back in an attempts to cheer her up. Lucy didn't even look up and before my hand made contact, a fierce warning look from Wendy stopped me. I froze and awkwardly dropped arm down. Over the top of her head, where Lucy couldn't see Wendy mouthed, pressing a finger to her lips. "Ssshhhh! She just failed a test."

I nodded to show Wendy I understood, and instead of jubilantly patting Lucy on the back, I sank onto the stoop next to her. "How's it going Luce'?" I say, brushing shoulders with her playfully, as I watch her stir her drink aimlessly.

She hiccupped before she said. "Swimmingly." In a very dry, boorish tone that suggested she'd rather be left alone.

"How many of those have you had?" I frowned, sliding her drink out from under her hand. I then noticed how she was swaying a little on her stool, her eyes glazed over.

She hiccupped again before she said. "Enough." Sinking down in her stool to let her head rest in her arms, which where propped up on the bar. Her hair spilling over the sides of shoulders and getting smooshed up by her arm.

"Awe come on Lucy, it can't be that bad!" I say for posterities sake, but I was probably the only person who knew how bad it truly was. Naturally I was worried about her, when you swept traumatic shit like that under the rug it tended to bite you in the ass later, trust me I would know. Her best option for healing would be to face what happened to her head on, wallowing in a bottle of liquor was only a temporary fix. The nightmares would hit her as hard as her hangover would.

"I failed a final." She mumbled into arms and hair.

"It's only a test. They'll be another one." I say encouragingly.

She shook her head. "No, I've already talked to the Professor. I'm going to have to retake the class. She said she wasn't surprised I failed because of how much class I missed. And the rest of my grades weren't great either."

"You're in a guild full time and going to school, that's a hard thing to do. I'm impressed you managed to pass any classes to be honest, I know I wouldn't be able to haha." I say getting up from my stool and holding out a hand for her to follow. She looked at me with one eye through all her tresses before slapping her palm in mine, her moan of annoyance betraying her reluctance. I pulled her to her feet, dragging her hand with me as I lead her into the kitchen.

I dug some Ore-Ida out of the freezer and dumped them onto a tray before slamming them in the oven. Lucy looked from the oven to me in confusion. "What?" I asked innocently, shrugging my shoulders. "I thought girls love French fries. Thought they might cheer you up a little."

A hint of a smile tugged at her lip as she said. "Gray, you're an idiot." In reality I was trying to help her sober up before Natsu got back. He wasn't an idiot; he would figure out something was wrong. We sat on the counter in the kitchen for a while, eating too hot fries' strait off the tray, and squirting ketchup on them individually, passing the bottle back and forth. Eventually it became late, Natsu wasn't back yet and we both figured it would be indecent for us to stay up together any longer.

"Hey…. Uh Lucy. If you need to talk, you know, about what happened. I'm here, alright?" I had been trying to find a way to bring it up all night, but it never seemed to be the right time, I figured if I was going to bring it up it would be now or never. I needed her to feel like she wasn't alone, that if she couldn't to talk to Natsu about what happened, she could at least talk to me.

"Hey Gray. Do you think this feeling will ever go away?" My jaw clicked, and my muscles stiffened. I supposed as a man I would never fully understand what Lucy must have been feeling just then, but I did my best to empathize.

"Yeah." I said firmly. "It will. I think these things just take time you know." Giving her an encouraging smile. I wanted to tell her how much I admired her, how strong she was. Not very many people could put up will all these pressures she was putting on herself, and yet she could only compare herself to women like Erza or Mirajane, who were in all respects, freaks of nature. But I couldn't settle on a sentence that didn't sound sappy so I just went for. "Come on, let me take you back to your room." Not thinking I held my hand up offering to help her scoot off the counter, my heart racing as she took it easily, like the idea of holding my hand even briefly, was natural to her.

We didn't say anything on our walk over to her room, which was down the south wing of the Guild Hall. We were both looking down at our feet, my Air Force One's keeping pace with her little ankle socks. Although she was tall and strong for a girl, she still had these little characteristics that where…. Well… cute. Like the fact that she had been wearing these little socks around the Guild Hall rather than shoes, a subtle indication that she felt at home here. When we finally reached her door a prickle of nerves made be instantly sweaty, and I suddenly couldn't wait to take my shirt off. I hated clothes, they always made me too hot and I always felt like they got in my way.

"Um… well… Good night." Said Lucy in her own doorway. Embarrassingly I realized we been standing in the hallway awkwardly. My brain scrambled trying to figure out what to say, my hands shoved in my pockets and my traitorous stupid heart banging against its ribcage. I was a grown ass man, a high ranking wizard in one of the most formidable guilds on this side of the country, yet suddenly I felt like a schoolboy taking his crush home after a first date. Fuck me!

"Night… and… I'm here if you need me." I blurt out. She was so tough, she had been through so much and yet she was prepared to hold it all in. To suffer alone and in silence, I just wanted to make sure she knew that she didn't have to. That she wasn't alone in this.

"I know. You said that." She said serving me an awkward smile, that didn't meet her vacant eyes. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. God, couldn't I have come up with something better to say?

"Right… well… I meant it." I say, turning beat red, hoping she wouldn't notice. "G'night Lucy." I turned my heels and paced down the hall, listening for her pause before…

"Gray wait!" She called down the hall, I froze having turned the corner. I pretended not to have heard her, afraid, despite my promise, that I'd only make things worse if I turned around. What if I said or did something I couldn't take back? The clock ticked by for a few more clicks, and lacking a response from me, I heard her door click into place.

Lucy

Two Days Later

I woke up to my alarm and a pounding headache the morning of the tournament. Suppose I shouldn't have had that last glass of wine last night. I groaned as I flipped up the covers and I got out of bed. I wasn't looking forward to this event, I hadn't hardly trained for it, and I wasn't in the mood. I felt like I was setting myself up just to let myself down, but I sure as hell wasn't about to just roll over for Juvia. She'd been nothing but bitchy to me ever since I came here, and I literally had done nothing to deserve it. Honestly I was just waiting for the whole thing to be over. I got up, downed a glass of water and took two Advil.

First I visited the kitchen to have a small cup of coffee and a banana. Luckily everyone else seemed to be preparing for today's event, Natsu included. So I was able to have a moment to myself, trying to mentally reconcile what the day was going to be. My spirits where low, and after taking loss after loss, it becomes harder to pick myself back up. The universe wasn't going to let me catch a break, I was dealt blow after blow and I would just have to learn to roll with the punches.

Next I went to the bathroom, plated my hair into a big single French braid, and applied simple amount of make-up. I mean if I was going to lose, I would at least like to do it with some mascara on. I put on a pair of black spandex shorts and a pink LuLulemon sports bra. I took a moment to stare at myself in the mirror, seeking depth in my own image. What I found where two oversized eyes that looked hollow and rimmed with dark circles. My overall skin looked pale and clammy, my lips faint of color. Usually I was moderately satisfied with the women I saw in the mirror, today I hadn't even recognized her. Ever since coming back from our last mission, I found putting myself together an uphill battle. Guilt was weighing me down, making it hard to breathe, or move, or speak, when every action I did, everything I said was a lie. I had lied to everyone, Laxus, my dad… Natsu. My life had been split into two categories, who I was and who I had been before that day. The day I lost myself, the day I gave up. No matter which way I spun it, I couldn't figure out a way to forgive myself.

The door to the women's restroom creaked open and Mirajane walked in. "Ah Lucy! I've been looking for you!" She said as if she was relieved to have found me. "You two are up first!" She panted, showing me the clipboard of time slots.

Gildarts was back now, but he was on crutches and it would still be weeks before he could return to training. Before recent events, Mirajane had finally relented and had decided to accept Gildarts challenge for an S class trial. This left her without pairing for the tournament, leaving her available to help Laxus organize.

"Alright. I'm coming. Let's get this over with." I say while I finished up applying some tinted chap stick.

"Everything alright?" Asked Mirajane suddenly, searching my face. She put a hand on my shoulder and gently pushed me backwards into better lighting so that she could examine me better, her nose inches from mine.

"Yeah, why wouldn't it be?"

"It's just… you seem a little… off. Are you sure you're alright? We can cancel if you're not feeling well. These tournaments really aren't all that important anyways, don't feel pressured if you're under the weather."

"No it's fine Mirajane. I'm alright. Really." I served her a reassuring smile. While Mirajane didn't look convinced she at least nodded.

….

"Remember, your reach is your best advantage against Juvia… If she gets you on the ground, use your legs for leverage and get back up. Always get back up. You're no match for her on the floor. Juvia's excellent at wrestling." Said Erza as I was doing some warm-up stretches on a matt off the side.

A boxing ring had been erected in the gymnasium, where Juvia and I were scheduled to face off. I hadn't caught sight of her yet today, she must have been warming up somewhere else. "Yeah Okay." I say, breathing heavily as I started to do some jumping jacks. My mind was still in a fog and no matter how hard I tried I just couldn't focus. Vaguely the atmosphere reminded me of what it was like before a cheer meet, except there was a lot less glitter.

"Hey Lucy!" Called Natsu cheerfully, smiling at me. God, he was so hot when he smiled. He strode over to where I was warming up, passing Wendy and Lisanna who were setting up chairs. "Just wanted to wish you good luck today!" He rubbed my back encouragingly. Natsu wasn't slated to go until this evening, he had archery with Jellal. Everyone I had talked to about the tournament today seemed to favor Jellal for the win, but at this point I had learned to never underestimate Natsu.

"Thanks Natsu." I say serving him a weak smile. It was hard for me to even look at him, to know I had let him down most of all. My secret burning a hole through my heart. He mistook my timid smile for lack of confidence, and while I was sure I was about to be humiliated, that was the least of my concerns.

Misreading my expression, he said. "Don't worry Lucy, you've got this. Just rely on your instincts, they're almost always good. Sure, Juvia might be a little out of your weight class, but you've faced off against a lot worse. It's your first tournament so the most important thing is to keep a level head and try and remember what Erza's taught you."

I knew he was trying his best to be encouraging, but all my mind could think of was Justin, who was barely more than a teenager and I still hadn't been able to fight him off despite my best efforts. How should Juvia, a trained Fairy Tail wizard, be any different? I opened my mouth to reply to Natsu, unsure of what to say. Thankfully Mirajane approached, clipboard in hand.

"You about ready Lucy?" Asked Mirajane.

….

I hadn't caught sight of Juvia until right before we both climbed into the ring. She had her medium length blue hair pull back in short Dutch braids, wearing matching Off-White biker shorts and sports bra combo. She licked her full lips before she pulled herself up onto the platform. I took this moment to really study Juvia as an opponent, and the way she moved, her powerful thighs and ass, her back rippled with meaty muscle, her shoulders and arms toned and shapely. I looked down at my own lanky limbs, a result of a lifetime of being more concerned with how my body looked rather than how effective it was. While I wasn't a total twig I had a body more similar to a dancer than a gymnast. Before I knew it Laxus has rang the bell and Mirajane, who was dressed in a sexy version of a Halloween referee outfit, announced round one.

I had never been in a fight before. I mean sure I'd been in _fights_ like missions and stuff. But this was different, aside from sparing with Erza I'd never been forced to rely on nothing but my own body. No keys, no whips, no sword. Just me. And unlike Erza, Juvia wouldn't be pulling her punches.

As soon as the bell sounded we squared up, our fists guarding our faces, as we circled each other, my own demeaning smirk mirrored on Juvia's face. Following Erza's instructions I had to crouch a little lower than I was used to, to guard my torso against a shorter opponent. Before long Juvia started jabbing the thin air around me, testing my reactions.

"Want to know how I got into Fairy Tail!?" Juvia taunted between jabs, that I continually dodged. She was slower than Erza, so in comparison dodging her was a piece of cake, but the reckless force she put behind her punches was something I'd prefer to avoid. So far I had stuck to the plan, to be on the defensive, to tire her out before I made my move. Her short arms and legs would tire eventually as she had to move them more to keep up with my longer limbs. The problem was she hit harder than I could, Juvia's short, jabs where nothing to scoff at. I chose not to dignify her with a response. Instead I tried to recognize patterns in her footwork.

So far she hadn't landed a single hit, and I hadn't even attempted one offensive move yet. This was mixed martial arts, and we were still on the boxing stage. I kept a low center of gravity, pivoting in the center as Juvia sidled around me, trying to land a hit. She threw a kick in, I dodged that as well, Juvia was testing me. For minuets we circled like that, eventually my impatience got the better of me and I decided to go against Erza's teachings to move things along. The next time Juvia tried to land a punch I swooped out of the way and countered with a sharp jab to her ribs.

There were some audible "Oooos!" From the crowd, but I was too occupied to decipher who they came from. DING! Laxus rang a bell and Mirajane indicated the end of the first round. Juvia and I retreated to our corners. Erza and Natsu where in mine, Lisanna and Gray in hers.

"That was good! Landed the first hit!" Praised Natsu as he held up a towel for me to spit my mouth piece into. Sexy.

Erza handed me a water, I refused it at first but she insisted. "You were also lucky. Keep at it and I think you've got a fair shot. You're an unknown variable to her, she doesn't know what to make of you. Try and keep it like that for as long as you can."

DING!

The start of the second round came in and Juvia came at me with a renewed sense of purpose. Juvia had all but abandoned her guard and was coming at me now with both fists. I couldn't dodge them all and she repeatedly kicked at my shins and forearms. They'd be one giant, ugly, bruise later. Eventually I would have to stop floating like a butterfly, pretty soon here I'd have to be the bee.

Right hook. Left hook. I swung under them both, then popped up in front of Juvia, past her defenses. I jerked my leg up, aiming to kick her square in the sternum. I was a fraction of a second too slow. Juvia grabbed both hands onto my foot and twisted my whole leg, forcing me to face plant onto the stage. I was able to break my fall to save my face but still, Juvia was on top of me from behind, twisting my leg, leaning on it with all her body weight, threatening to break it by sheer torsion. She leaned forward over my back to whisper in my ear, sweat from her forehead beading onto my shoulders.

"I went to a prestigious private school, designed especially for kids with extra ordinary talents." She hissed in my ear. I didn't care to listen to her sob story, what I cared about was trying to find a way out of this that didn't involve any tapping. I refused to be checkmated so early. "I participated in contests and pageants, took internships, I spent years of my life planning and honing my skill, when I finally graduated I applied my services to Fairy Tail. There where hundreds of applicants." …. If I could just shove myself off my elbows hard enough I just might be able to hook my other leg around her torso, then I could shove her off of me, but I would only get one chance. Juvia cranked harder on my leg, my hip threatened to dislocate and I couldn't help but cry out.

There was commotion in the crowd, but my vision was blurred and my ears where full of Juvia's words. What was she trying to tell me? What did any of this matter? "Ever ask Wendy how she joined?" Juvia continued, unconcerned with whatever else was going on. "Or Lisanna? They'll tell you a similar story. A story of a lifetime fill will blood, sweat and tears, full of nothing but determination to be the best. To watch how many of our peers fall short."

Gritting my teeth at the anticipated pain, and with an ugly growl I managed to roll over, this time, pinning Juvia with my knee into her gut, my hands on her wrists. "And YOU!" Juvia continued, sneering up at me. Both of our breathing where ragged as we fought for dominance rolling around on the floor, each of us trying to gain the upper hand on the other. I was trying to remember what Erza had told me about Juvia but the thoughts escaped before I had time to think. I could now only react.

She had me in an arm bar, and I begged it hadn't been six minutes yet. I knew the bell would be sounding soon, and when it did I didn't want to be the one pinned. "And YOU! YOU got to skip all that! You get in because Natsu, precious, infallible, almighty Natsu, has a hard on for you…. Hack tsu!" Juvia spit right in my face, and I finally came unhinged.

There are certain things I will take with dignity, there's a time and a place for the high road. But this wasn't one of them. I steered full throttle straight down the low road. I cocked my hand back and planted my fist right in her face.

As soon as I did it there was a series of whistle blowing, but I didn't stop. Taken aback by my sudden total disregard for the rules, I climbed on top of Juvia and punched her again, high off the intoxicating feeling of power. The power that, just a couple of days ago had been robbed from me. Right here and now, with my knuckles colliding with Juvia's bitchy face, I felt alive again. Just as my third punch was about to land home, Mirajane yanked me backwards by my shoulders. As quickly as I had blown up, I had slapped back down to earth so much harder, a wave of embarrassment for losing my shit enveloped me.

Juvia scrambled to her feet, whipping snot and blood off of her face with her bare arm. "Fucking Cunt!" She was screaming.

As I regained awareness I realized that the whole gymnasium had turned into a screaming match. Natsu was screaming at Mirajane, who was about to announce that I'd disqualified myself for a blatant hit to the face, literally the only real rule of the sport. He was defending me saying how I'd been provoked. Erza was yelling something about points. Gray and Lisanna were also shouting, demanding I take the loss.

DING! DING! DING! "ENOUGH!" Yelled Laxus over it all, as he banged on his bell to get our attention.

Natsu

Later that Evening

"I think that's enough Lucy." I say, wrenching the bottle out of her hands. She was teetering dangerously on her bar stool, and I had to put a foot on the bottom of it to steady her.

"Oh fuck off Natsu." She slurred, pushing hair out of her face and lazily trying to swipe the bottle out of my hands.

"Come on! We all lose our shit from time to time. Plus, Juvia was goading you, I'd have done the same thing quite frankly. Nobody's judging you so you can cut it out!" She'd been getting plastered all afternoon watching everybody else's match ups. I also had lost my bracket, but I didn't let it bother my ego too much. Jellal had the aim of a military grade sniper, it didn't matter what weapon he was using. Besides, there would always be a next time. I had assumed her behavior was due to her embarrassment about getting disqualified, although if I was being honest with myself, this had all started before the fight. She'd been getting piss drunk every night since coming back from that last mission, and while it was a stressful experience it wasn't totally above shit that's happened to her in the past. The shadow demon, the genie, Yukino, the pirates…. How where gangsters any worse? Something was wrong…. something was really wrong and for the life of me I couldn't figure it out. I supposed that's what a lifetime of suppressing my own emotions earned me, a failure to recognize them in others.

"Just give me the bottle back." She scoffed, serving me a dry, emotionless look. It was a look that scared the piss out of me, I didn't recognize this version of Lucy. Her mascara was rubbed around her eyes, her hair in a loose pony tail with frizzy wisps around her face, but it was her eyes that scared me the most. They were empty, lifeless. Something had happened to make them like that and I was bound and determined to find out what.

"No. You're done for the night." I put the bottle of tequila back on the shelf and filled up a glass of water at the sink.

"Fuck you, you're not." Hiccup. "My dad!" Hiccup.

"No… but I am the one responsible for you… here drink this." I say handing her the glass. She brushed it away and I rolled my eyes, annoyed, and set it on the counter in front of her.

"You're not…. aaasponsible for me." She said, looking up at me, her eyes half lidded as she pointed at her own chest. "I'm aaasponsible for me." Then she swayed a little then burped.

"Hot." I say outload. "Come on Lucy." I sighed. "Let's get you to bed." Offering her my hand to grab on to. She slapped it away.

"NO!" She said vehemently, and the scrunched up expression on her face reminded me strongly of a toddler refusing to take a nap. At that moment Gray walked up to grab another beer from the fridge, decidedly observing Lucy's little tantrum. Like myself and Lucy, Gray had also lost his match with Erza… badly… as I had predicted.

"What's goin' on here?" Asked Gray curiously.

"Aahh, she's just a little too drunk."

"Am not! Just give it back Natsuuu!" She cried, teetering too far forwards on her stool, but catching herself with her elbows on the bar. Gray traded a knowing look with me.

"Yeah Lucy." Said Gray slowly, coming to my aid. "We're all going to bed soon anyways, it's late." It wasn't it was only like 9:00, but she didn't need to know that.

Completely disregarding Gray, she got up off her stool and came around the bar, stretching up on her tip toes to try and reach the bottle of tequila behind me. "Whoa- whoa- whoa! Not so fast!" I say, capturing both her wrists in my one hand.

"But I need it Natsu! I can't sleep without it!" Was it all of her experiences combined that where catching up with her? Or had something else happened? No, something had changed, I was sure of it. Why was she acting this way all of the sudden?

"Just give her the bottle Natsu." Said Gray in a strange and unexpected tone that sounded close to defeat.

"What!?" I say incredulous, turning around to face him. Suspiciously he avoided eye contact.

"Just give the girl what she wants." He relented, his expression dangerously close to guilty, which was fucking suspicious. I'd have to take this up with him later.

"Yeah, listen to Gray." Said Lucy as she tried to wriggle her arms out of my grasp.

"You two are both crazy." I say. "You're going to make yourself sick Lucy. Drink some water, go to sleep and we'll talk about whatever's bothering you in the morning."

Both Gray and Lucy exchanged a meaningful glance, and my skin prickled. The two had betrayed their last clue. Something HAD happened. But now was not the time to ferret it out of Lucy, and I swallowed the instant temper that boiled in my belly. In my brief distraction she had freed her arms and had tried to reach over my shoulder again. Choosing to ignore whatever _that_ was for the time being, I ducked down and scooped Lucy over my shoulder, which she flailed her legs around and beat her fists on my back demanding that I let her go. I left Gray in the main Guild Hall as I carried Lucy off.

About halfway to her room Lucy stopped her childish tantrum, but I didn't dare let her on her feet. Instead I continued to march in silence to her room where I deposited her onto her bed. It was then that I noticed she was sobbing. "N-n-Natsu." She sniffed.

"Yeah Lucy." I say crouching down in front of her bed to be level with her. I hated it when she cried. I never knew what to say or do, and whatever it was I did end up saying, it always felt wrong. Her lower lip trembled, and tears spilled over her cheeks. My mouth suddenly felt dry.

"I…I'm so sorry Natsu!" She blubbered drunkenly. I wanted to pass this off as drunk white girl hysterics, but the way she looked at me indicated she was apologizing for something else. "I'm s-s-sorry!" She repeated, and her desperation made my heart sink. Not knowing what to say, I did the only thing that felt right. I reached out a hand to cup the side of her face and neck. I pulled her into my chest and she clung onto my shirt as she soaked it with tears and snot. I had never really noticed before how fragile she truly was. How my one hand could fit most of the way around her neck. She wasn't a particularly small girl, yet her body was still so much smaller than my own. She was always so loud and vibrant, she always occupied every cell in her body to the fullest. But not now. Now I saw a hint was what she really was inside…. In reality she was just a girl who was in way over her head.

"It's alright. It's alright Lucy." I purr, petting the back of her head, not knowing what it was I was forgiving, but doing so just the same.

….

The Next Morning

Gray was uncharacteristically meek during our morning workout. He hardly said anything as he loaded weights onto bar. We had been doing this morning routine for so long, we hadn't really needed to speak, but still, we usually chatted while we curled at least. Finally, as we loaded our weights back onto the rack, (or else suffer the rather of Lisanna, who couldn't lift them and would be coming in after us), I decided I couldn't take it anymore. Something was wrong with Lucy, and Gray knew what it was. I'd be damned if Gray knew something about MY girlfriend that I didn't.

"So Gray, tell me something what really happened during the mission? I know you know!" I found the subject difficult to bring up in conversation, so I just decided to nut up and dump the question on him. I tried to sound as casual as possible, but inside my body was churning with nerves for whatever it was he might say. And as usual, my nervousness reared its head as short tempered and aggressive.

"You know I know what? You're going to have to be more specific." Said Gray, flippantly as he zipped up his gym bag. I could tell he was intentionally avoiding looking at me, which only made my gut feeling intensify.

"Don't play dumb with me!" I scoff. Gray didn't answer, but he worked his jaw as if he was deciding something. The pressure inside me was building. "Fuck if I'm ever letting her go on a mission with you again! Look at her! She's a mess!" I continued indicating the direction of Lucy's room. "I knew I couldn't trust anyone else with her, not even my best friend!" I tried to keep a lid on my temper, but my internal thermometer had other plans. "Hell! The last mission you two went on together… If Laxus hadn't gotten us those coins…. I couldn't even think about what might have happened! To you and to Lucy!"

The worst part was, I knew he had done his best. I knew that had it been within Gray's capabilities to rescue her from whatever tormented her, he would have. Shit. Even I had been bested by…. What was that pricks name again? Lanksy? Albeit had I anticipated his level of skill and abilities I would have played things out differently. In truth, how could I possibly blame Gray, when I had also failed her, if anything I had failed worse than he had. But it wasn't a pill I was prepared to swallow, and I sure as shit wasn't going to admit this to Gray. No, it was far easier to brush Gray in the blame.

Gray

"I managed to keep her alive! Thank you very much! And besides…. I didn't fail her half as much as you did." I said darkly, my own temper flaring to match Natsu's. "How dare you put on this me! You don't even know…." I struggled with that to tell him, my anger wanted to throw it all in his face, but at the same time my heart wouldn't let me. It would be to cruel and I had to remind myself of the promise I made to Lucy. "You weren't there! You were too busy being too big for your breeches… as always!" I said, buffing up my chest. Natsu might be able to intimidate Laxus sometimes, but he couldn't intimidate me.

"What do you mean?" He said in a low voice, his iris's starting to turn the way they did when he lost his temper. "Tell me the truth Gray or I swear to god…." He finished balling his fists, taking a dangerous step closer to me. I sighed, standing up straight and relaxing my arms to my sides in defeat. I had been afraid of this. Riding in the middle between Lucy and Natsu these past several days had been a feat that deserved a medal. It wasn't a place I cared to be and my conscience had struggled with which side of the fence to lean on. I had told myself that I could live with a lie of omission, but that if Natsu where to ever ask me outright, I would have to go back on my word to Lucy. I couldn't lie to my best friend, not when it was this important.

"Lanksy and his boys…. they…. They went back Natsu. I got there just in time." I growled, leveling my icy stare, my fists curling at the memory. While it appeared I was looking at Natsu, in reality I was looking past him. At the horrible vision of Lucy strapped to the table.

He flew at me so fast, that even though I had been expecting it, it still caught me off guard. I had to take a step back to steady myself as he clamped a clawed fist around my throat. He crushed me against the gym wall behind me. "THEY WHAT!?" Natsu was snarling, saliva dripping off his enlarged teeth, which where way too close to my face. He was in shadow except for his glowing red eyes. Hit hot breaths huffed on my face smelling faintly of campfire smoke. It startled me how fast he had transitioned, and I was trying to remember a time he'd done it that fast before.

I gave him a swift and sharp upper cut, I hit hard enough to hear his teeth clack together. He stumbled backwards and let go of my throat, but before my heels even sank back onto the ground, WHAMP. Natsu lugged me hard on the side on my face with a familiar dull thud as the meat of his fist met my face. Immediately I could tell he knocked a couple of molars loose as blood gushed into my mouth.

"You've been too blind to notice!" I growled back at him, spitting out wad of blood. Natsu was shaking while he tried to contain himself, something I hadn't personally witness him do before and it gave me a gut feeling. It was at that moment I understood how truly out of control he was. It was horrible to watch my best friend be in this much distress over the functions of his own body. If I had sometimes envied Natsu's power level before, I pitied him now. At least my demons leant me control, they'd never consume me the way Natsu's did.

"WHY!? WHY DIDN'T EITHER OF YOU TELL ME EARLIER!" He roared, and although he was violently angry, I could also tell that he was hurt we'd kept this from him. I steadied myself, ready to guard against another punch.

"She made me promise not to say anything." I say bowing my head in reverence. Natsu gave a half growl, half grunt in response. All the muscles in his body tense as he refrained from pommeling me. Not that I'd let 'em. "But really, you should have realized something was off! She can't fall asleep without being piss drunk, she's spent most of the past several days in her room! Did it even occur to you that something was wrong!?"

"Of course I did!" He snarled, crowding up on me again. He served me a murderous look but kept his fists at his sides, claws and scales on his hands reflected in the gym mirrors. He paused closing his eyes and focused on his breathing as if he was trying to calm himself.

"What? You thought it was really about her failing that stupid test!? That she really cares if she loses to Juvia!? She's a hell of a lot stronger than you give her credit for Natsu! You'd know that if you'd ever let her stand on her own two feet from time to time!"

"Careful Gray! It's a far sight better than almost getting killed every time she's with you! Maybe if you had the balls to dish out some of those demon slayer powers a little sooner we wouldn't be having this conversation."

That was too far. How dare he try to turn this around and make this about the bastard I'm forced to call a father. It was my turn to be mad now. I socked him with all the strength training at the gym earned me. Natsu didn't budge, but the wood flooring beneath his feet cracked. I withdrew while Natsu was coughing, satisfied that although I hadn't knocked him to the ground, I had at least knocked the wind out of him. "Fuck you." I curse at him.

Ignoring me, after his fit of coughs he asked again "What happened Gray?" His voice hoarse, and I caught him wincing before I even answered.

"I think you'd better talk Lucy about it." I say, glaring down at him doubled over with my arms across my chest.

"Don't make me ask you again!" He threatened dangerously, recovering from his coughing fit. My eyes flicked to the light reflecting off the scales on him arms, the way his muscles seemed to be tight against his skin. I'd never before pushed him to this point before. Sure, I'd seen Natsu kinda scaly a number of times, but never directed at me. I was starting to see why Erza was so concerned, it was so easy for him now. Whatever barrier there was between Natsu and the dragon, it was waning.

"They must have gone back for her shortly after you and Gildarts where incapacitated. She fought hard I can tell you that, one of 'em had a broken nose….and…" And I knew she had put up a fight based on the way they had to tie her down, but I wanted to spare Natsu the mental image.

"And?" He prompted.

"And… anyways, she was pretty much naked by the time I got there…. but not…. completely. Like I said, I had impeccable timing." My eyes sank to the floor, bowing my head as if apologizing for seeing his girl naked. I heard Natsu's teeth snap together but I continued. "When I showed up they…." I paused, not willing to admit to Natsu that I HAD used my demon slayer powers to rescue her, fearing that it might reveal my betrayal. I had decided to blatantly omit our tender moment, both to save my own skin, and to save Lucy from having to explain. If I was going to go back on my promise, the least I could do was not throw her under the bus.

"Know who they are?" He asked, I was no fool. I knew what he was really asking. He was asking me if I'd help him find them.

"Yeah." I say, nodding and giving him a knowing look. "You wanna find them?"

"Yeah…."

"Find them and do what?" I questioned, an eyebrow cocked. Natsu never answered me, but we both knew I already knew what the answer was.

"Let's go. Meet you in the garage." He said, already pushing past me.

"Wait. Where are you going?" I asked, swiveling around as he was headed in the opposite direction of the garage.

"To talk to Lucy." He called over his shoulder, his arms and neck still in patches of scales.

"Wait! Hold on Natsu!" I say grabbing onto his shoulder. He shrugged me off but I tried again, with more effort the second time. "You really think that's a good idea?" I asked him, indicating his current physical condition.

"Will you!?" I challenged, giving him a knowing look that inferring I meant 'keep it under control'?

"Fine." He said short with me, irritated that I was holding him up, but unwilling to admit that I was right. If he was letting me supervise this conversation with Lucy, he truly was off the rails.

Without knocking he ripped Lucy's bedroom door open. She had been laying in her bed, and sat up startled when Natsu burst in. She was in pink pajamas with white hearts all over them, and it was mid-morning already. I hung back in the doorway, trying not to interfere until forced.

"Lucy!" Natsu yelled, and my heart broke into a thousand pieces as she looked from me to Natsu. She knew immediately what had transpired, her eyes where wide and horrified. Natsu didn't wait for her to respond, but he hadn't missed the look she gave me. "What happened after Gildarts and I were passed out!? Tell me! Huh!?" He grabbed her by her chin and pulled Lucy to her feet. Sparks started to sputter out of the palm of his other hand, but at least he managed to dim the one that was touching her. He pulled Lucy's face up to meet his, but she tore her chin out of his hand to look away.

"Nothing…" She said dazedly as she turned away from him. Her strange bemused behavior more of an admission than her words where. "I'm fine."

"You're clearly not!" He shouted back, grabbing on to her arm, his hand encased her whole bicep as he jerked her back around. Lucy bobbled a little like a rag doll. Natsu had just been too rough and I took a step forward, warning him that that was enough. He ignored me, staring dead on into Lucy's face with an intensity that made me feel uncomfortable.

"I swear to god Lucy if they laid a finger on you… I'll!" Natsu's voice was low and gravely as his breath moved past his teeth. He was so furious he was shaking and he couldn't finish his sentence with imploding. His clawed hand was still wrapped around Lucy's arm and I was becoming afraid that he'd accidentally break it.

"They didn't do anything Natsu! I'm fine!" She lied, averting her eyes from his at all costs. Tears welled in her big brown eyes again, and all I wanted to do was hold her until it was better, but of course Natsu was acting thuggish. What she had needed in that moment was sympathy and understanding, not the brutish caveman response Natsu seemed unable to help.

"Bullshit!" He said, lowering his voice as he realized he was making her cry. "C'mon Gray, let's go! Lucy! We'll be back!" He let go of her and turned to leave.

"No you can't go!" Cried Lucy as she lunged forward for Natsu's arm, pulling him back. He stopped to look at her. "You guys almost died fighting them! Let it go Natsu! I'm okay! Really!" She was frantic, at a point she looked at me for support, I couldn't lend her any, mostly because I was just as eager as Natsu was to serve up justice. The only difference was I was at least a gentleman about it.

"Lucy…" Natsu said as if she was testing his patience. He released her fingers from his arm and turned towards the doorway again. Several more times Lucy tried to stop him but he eventually made it to the door saying.

"We'll be back." Before he slammed the door behind him. As soon as the door closed we could hear Lucy sobbing from the other side. I gave a sideways glance at Natsu, expecting her reaction to have at least soften Natsu expression. It didn't. If anything it hardened, his lips set in a thin like as we marched off towards the garage.

Lucy

I was left alone and frightened in my room. What do I do? I can't physically stop them!? I was scared. Scared of a great many things. Scared that Natsu and Gray might get hurt, scared what they would do, scared for whatever repercussions waited on the other side. This was why I didn't want anybody to find out. I didn't need them to fight for me, I needed to battle my demons on my own and I didn't think catching the perpetrators could reverse the past. It's not like they're law enforcement, it's not as though they were acting under orders by some form of government sanction that would clean up their mess for them. It's not as though whatever Natsu decided to do would stop these men from harming other women….

I paced my room anxiously for hours, when Mirajane came looking for me I had to pretend to be sick for her to leave me alone. I couldn't tell Mirajane what was happening, I was afraid pretty soon whole guild knowing about it and I couldn't stand that. I couldn't do anything; I was realizing hopelessly. I debated telling Erza but she would most likely just tell Laxus. And Laxus! I lied to him to! God this was such a mess!

I tried to shower, thinking that the hot water might sooth me a fraction. It didn't. I was to fractious to even blow dry my hair, a routine that usually allowed me time to collect my thoughts.

Eventually the day descended into darkness, and I could do nothing but slowly watch the light creep away from behind my curtains. Minuets traveled on and I couldn't bring myself to do anything but sit and watch my phone as evening turned into night, and the night turned into late night. Every minute they were, gone I grew more and more worried and every second that ticked by I was growing closer and closer to going to confess the whole thing to Laxus. Right as 1:59 turned to 2:00 I heard footsteps, followed by a shadow outside of my bedroom door. Unable to contain it anymore I flew across the room to open the door before he could.

When I opened the door I gasped at the malignant expression on Natsu's face. His stature was cold…. Stone cold… colder than cold. A new type of fear surfaced rearing its serpentine-like head. I remember I had seen Natsu like this once before, and even then his energy didn't poison the atmosphere like it did now.

"Come with me." He ordered, taking a hold of my arm and dragging me, none too gently, out of my room and down the hall. He was so formidable that I was afraid to make a peep, I was afraid of Natsu in that moment. I wasn't afraid he was going to hurt me, but anything else at this point was fair game, when his eyes glow red and his pupils narrowed, there was no stopping Natsu from whatever it was he had his mind set on.

He didn't look back at me once while he dragged me down the hallway, out of the guild hall and into the night. Wordlessly he helped me into an old, single cabbed Toyota Tacoma that was used by the landscaping company. Once I was seated he slammed the door and walked around the front of the car to the driver's seat, and took us across the property. The dull orange light of the truck bounced all over the place as we drove across one of Fairy Tail's many lawns, bunny rabbits scurrying out of the way. I chanced a look at Natsu, but I didn't dare open my mouth. He wasn't snarling, his nostrils weren't flaring and there wasn't a single scale over his whole body. His eyes where what haunted me the most, and in a way is was more terrifying than if he had claws and teeth.

Without slowing down Natsu drove straight into the forest behind the Guild Hall, the truck bouncing wildly as we hit tree roots and shallow bogs. Asking Natsu where we were going was on the tip of my tongue, but just as I was about to open my mouth to speak, the scene I saw sent ice cold dread trickling down my spine.

Three men where blind folded, chained together and gagged, the only light other than the full moon above us, was the headlights of the truck pointed straight at the hostages. They casting eerie shadows that danced across the empty woods. Gray was holding onto the end of the chain that bound the three men together, his expression similar to Natsu's.

"Natsu… Natsu.. What is this!?" Panic rising in the voice I finally found.

"Get out of the car." He ordered, his voice devoid of all empathy and emotion.

"Not until you tell me what this is!" I floundered, the anxiety rose in my throat, threatening to strangle me.

"Step. Out. Of. The. Car. Lucy." Repeated Natsu, without opening his teeth. If my life had been an action adventure movie before, it now had suddenly taken a wrong turn now horror/thriller lane. I refused to move, stunned as I watched the three hostages Gray and Natsu had captured. They had Justin and Mr. Lansky alright, but I didn't recognize the third. When I still didn't move Natsu got out of the car, ripped open the passenger side door and dragged me out by my arm. The brisk night air was harsh against my pajamas, my nipples hardened and the dewy moss soaked through my slippers.

"Stop! Natu! What is this!? No! Stop!" I screeched as I tried to pull my arm out of his grip, but it didn't work and I tripped. I would have fallen on my face except for the grip Natsu had already had on my arm was so strong it held me upright. "Natsu stop! Whatever this is stop." I say planting my heels, trying to grow some courage, but he only continued to ignore me. He marched me over to in front of the three men, he nodded to Gray who ripped the blindfold off of Lansky. I wondered how they had managed to contain him from teleporting, but then I realized there was a needle sticking out of the side of his neck. Natsu and Gray must have injected him with something that counter acted his magic.

Lansky's eyes darted around wildly, until they settled on me. I made eye contact with him briefly and I felt instantly nocuous. I would have puked all over the forest floor, except that I hadn't eaten anything that day so there wasn't anything to throw up. Lansky must have recognized who I was because he started screaming against his gag and testing his chain. Gray yanked on his chain violently, causing him to slump sideways into the mud without the use of his arms to break his fall. Natsu grabbed my shoulder to spin me around to face him, then held my chin up so that I was forced into eye contact with him.

"Did this man here touch you Lucy?" Natsu asked, his voice so low I doubted anyone but me could hear it.

I shook my head. "Natsu, we can't do this. No." I say, pleading with him to see reason. My pleas fell on deaf ears.

"I'll ask you again." He said, I winced as venom started to seep into his words. His fingers reach up, pinching my cheeks together, making my lips pucker out in a fish face. "Did this mother fucker touch you? If you lie to me, I'll cremate them all alive right here and now!"

My throat caught and tears rolled out of the corners of my eyes as I nodded slowly. Without taking his eyes off me, he extended out his right hand. An explosion burst from his palm, so bright it illuminated the whole forest for a split second. The blast blew my hair back and I had to wince from the intense heat.

Lansky rolled around in the mud in agony, the smell of burning flesh invading my nostrils but I was too scared to look at anything but the squishy moss under my pink slippers. I could feel the heat of Natsu's gaze burning into the top of my head as I refused to look, but I could still hear. Hear his animalistic cries from beyond the gag. Just when I thought I had seen the worst of it, Natsu slowly raised his arm again, sending off another concentrated blast.

More intense screaming as the gag was burned away, I could hear the jingle of the chains as he fought them like a rabbit in a snare. I had never seen a human being act like this before. Lanksy was no longer a sentient being capable of complex thought, he had been reduced to a mindless being subjected to nothing but immense pain. Another blast, and the screaming stopped.

"Hold on a minute Natsu!" Piped up Gray, still holding onto the chains of the other hostages. Even Gray had seemed rattled by Natsu's bloodthirst, he was an unstoppable freight train, Gray and I where no more than passengers. Natsu decidedly ignored Gray and sent off a fourth blast. By the time I looked there was nothing but a pile of ash blowing away in the breeze, a scored piece of earth covered with puddles of molten iron from where the chains had melted.

"What about this one?" Natsu pointed unaffected by the atrocity he had just committed. His eyes, they were so dark…. So vacant. I didn't have to look to know that it was Justin, I could tell by his young stature, and the way is pretty boy hair had been ruffed up, littered with leaves. What some girls might have viewed to have been a romantic gesture upon my virtue, to see these events played out before my eyes… well it reads a different tune. This was about revenge, and it was really more for Natsu than it was about me.

My lack of response might have well have been an admission to Natsu. Justin started screaming and flailing around in grisly anticipation, knowing that he was about to suffer the same fate as Lansky. A fate I would have wished on no one in the world. It was enough that Natsu had killed Lansky, but to burn him alive... it was a heinous death, that left nothing for family members to hold onto. Natsu's victims would become dust on the wind, a ghost to haunt the family members left behind, robbing them of the closure digging a grave would bring. They would spend their whole lives wonderings, searching every face in every crowd.

"Wait Natsu!" Yelled Gray. "This one's just a kid! Hold on!" But Natsu didn't hold on. Natsu held his hand out and sent off a blast so fast there was nothing Gray or I could do to stop it. He torched him alive just like he had Lansky. I sank to me knees, the mud and mulch soaking through the thin cotton of my pants, sobbing but producing no tears. I was shivering violently in the brisk night air, despite the temporary blasts of heat.

"God Damn it Natsu! FUCK!" Cried Gray, shoving a hand through his hair and pacing nervously. It has seemed that Gray had been on the same page with Natsu up until a point, although whatever this…. These… murders… they were clearly not Gray's intention. No, this was all Natsu.

It was as if Gray didn't exist. "And this last one?" Natsu asked me, crouching down to my level so he could better hear. I was afraid to even look at Natsu, afraid what his total lack of empathy would reveal about himself…. Would reveal about me.

I shook my head. "No." I said, my mouth as dry as a desert, I blinked but it didn't moisten my eyes. "I've never seen him before. It's the truth. There was only two."

"I told you there were only two Natsu!" Cried Gray, he was pleading with Natsu now, but a sense of loyalty bound him to Natsu's decisions, no matter how heinous his actions may be.

"Guilty by association… and besides…we can't leave any witnesses." Said Natsu cooly.

His gift to the innocent had only been the mercy of a less painful death as instead of burning the teenager alive, he instead snapped his neck…. then he cremated him.

After it was all over Gray dropped the ends of chains he hand been holding, open mouth gaping at the scene he had just witnessed. An unnatural hush consumed the forest, there were no birds or squirrels, nothing but the light rustling of branches in the light breeze. I was still sitting helplessly on the forest floor, unsure if I could stand, unsure if I deserved to. I felt like I could do nothing but stare at my palms, my hands that, while they were not literally covered in blood, they were symbolically. It was bad enough we had murdered Lanksy and Justin…... but to murder an innocent person just for being in the way. That REALLY didn't feel right. The kid looked young, about Justin's age, with chronic acne and a Captain America T-shirt.

"Get up Lucy." Ordered Natsu, he voice was still firm but he held out a hand for me to take. I stared at it blankly. If I took his hand did that mean I allied with his methods? If I follow him back to the room, does that make me just as guilty? Was I already by association? Or was I worse because I didn't stop it. When I didn't take his hand, and I didn't move to stand Natsu leaned down into my ear to whisper. "Take a good hard look at what I am Lucy. Think of everything we've done, everything we've been through. Do you really think I'm the hero in this story?" His voice was rough and gravely, stinging my skin as if it was road rash.

The look on his face scared the shit out of me because I didn't know who Natsu was anymore. He was devoid of any emotion, he allowed wrath to consume his him. Not a human being who could feel, but rather wrath as an entity, a miasma of dark power that glisten from Natsu's glowing red iris's. Natsu was gone, and I didn't know how, or even if I could get him back.

I had seen him kill before, but even when he killed Yukino it was on the battle field. Although the premise had bothered me then, leaving marks on my soul I could never scrub away, I had swallowed it because it was us versus them mentality. Bound and gagged, these men couldn't have even lift a hand to save themselves. This wasn't a solider fighting for what he believed in. This was murder.

"How could you…. How could you do that!?" I cried, wetness finally starting to lubricate my eyeballs, aware that I was becoming hysterical and not giving a flying fuck. I swiped Natsu's extended hand out of my face and stood up on my own two feet. "You! You Murderer!" I stabbed a finger into his chest, but he didn't move.

"Call me what you want, but I'll tell you who I am. I'm the man that's going to kill any mother fucker who even _thinks_ they can touch you got it? I'm not the good guy Lucy, never have been, never claimed to be. But know this, I'm the man that will keep you alive, and that's a promise. Take me or leave me but this is who I am. Now go sit in and wait for us in the truck while Gray and I clean up."


End file.
